Dangerous Situation
by Raspberry Muffin
Summary: When Samantha finds herself in a potentially life threatening sitaution, what will happen? Final chapter up!
1. Chapter 1

_His cold blue eyes met hers from across the empty warehouse. She stood there, unmoving as an eerie gleam came into his eyes and a smirk crossed his face. Jack knelt down next to the woman's body near where Samantha was standing, to check her pulse. Jack stood back up, drawing his gun, pointing it at the man and yelling. But the man had pulled out his own gun and was aiming it at Samantha. Smirking again he pulled the trigger. _

Sam woke with a start, sitting straight up in bed, the image of his cruel, blue eyes burning a hole in her mind. She got up and gazed out of the window pressing her head against the cool glass, trying to relieve herself from her aching head, remembering their case from a week ago.

It had started with a missing woman, Joanne Kelly, who had gone missing from her office parking lot where she was working late. She had been kidnapped by a man called Ken Jones, who had kidnapped 2 other woman in a few other states. He would abduct the woman and then hold them for a while before he killed them. They had found Joanne before Ken killed her, thankfully. Samantha and Jack had a lead to a warehouse by the docks, and they had arranged for a team of police to join them and check around. Samantha shivered, feeling the chill from the warehouse hitting her again.

The woman had been lying unconscious, covered in blood. Ken Jones was on the other side of the warehouse, just staring at them. His eyes had held such coldness and uncaring malice. Jack had knelt to check Joanne's pulse, and then had risen, his gun pointed at Ken. Yelling for him to put his hands up. Ken just grinned, holding his own gun aimed at them. He winked at Samantha, and then ran, extremely fast, out the door behind him. Jack and Samantha ran after him, followed by the police, but there was no sign of him. It was like he had just disappeared.

Joanne had been taken to hospital and she was doing fine. It was a week later, and there was still no sign of Ken. APB's had been posted everywhere, and a trace had been set up on his cell and car, but nothing had turned up.

Samantha didn't know why this case had affected her so much, but she had that recurring dream since it had happened, sometimes a small detail was different, but it always ended the same, Ken Jones pointing a gun at her and pulling the trigger. She couldn't understand why her subconcious was making her relive this over and over again. She often had dreams about cases, but never ones like this. Being forced to go over the senario over and over again, but completely powerless to change it was unbelievably upsetting.

She sighed and made her way back to bed, prepared for a restless, rest of the night before she had to get up to go to work. Crawling back under the covers, she removed the quilt as the room had become very stuffy and claustrophobic. She lay down staring at the ceiling, images from the dream still playing in her mind. She groaned, knowing her sleep wouldn't be peaceful.

"Morning Sunshine!" called Danny as Sam walked in the next morning. She rolled her eyes, she knew she probably looked like shit she hadn't been able to sleep.

"Hey, you ok?" asked Danny as he came closer, looking at her concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine." Samantha smiled. "Just tired, didn't sleep much."

"Okay." replied Danny not quite sure, not seeming convinced.

"So, what's happening?" asked Sam, "Where's everyone?"

"Viv is talking to Jack in the office I think and Martin's even later than you." Danny grinned.

"I'm not that late." protested Sam. She was interrupted by Vivian walking back into the room. "Morning Sam." said Vivian smiling.

Samantha smiled back. "Morning. I'm just gonna get a coffee. You guys want?"

Danny shook his head.

"Sure. I'll come with." said Vivian.

"So you really alright?" asked Vivian curiously, pouring the coffee into two cups.

Samantha sighed. "Yeah. Honestly, I'm just tired." Another thing, was that lately she kept getting prank phone calls, some one would ring and then hang up when she answered. It wasn't just a couple that could have been the wrong number, it was about 5 in a row. Usually as she was trying to sleep, luckily only one last night. She tried to ignore it and not let it bother her, but it was pretty freaky.

"You want to take the rest of the day off, get some rest?" asked Vivian.

Samantha shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'll have an early night tonight."

Vivian smiled. "Ok." she said and picked up her mug of coffee to go back into the bullpen.


	2. Chapter 2

Samantha walked back into her apartment, casually tossing her keys and purse onto the couch. She sighed. It had been a pointless day, there were no cases so they had been doing paperwork all day. The phone rang, startling her out of her thoughts. She groaned, she wasn't in the mood for someone playing a joke. She picked it up saying "Hello?" in quite an annoyed tone.

"Hey. You sound happy." said Danny sarcastically.

"Sorry. I was expecting something else." Her tone of voice clearly stating she didn't want to talk about it.

"So, what you up to?" asked Danny changing the subject.

"Well I was just going to make some food, then I dunno read or watch a movie I guess."

"I've got a better idea, I will come over to yours and we can just chill for a few hours."

Samantha smiled. "That would be nice."

"Alright. I'll be there soon." replied Danny.

"Bye." said Sam and hung up the phone.

Samantha wandered into the kitchen, looking in her cupboards she decided two things, one, she could only make pasta, and two, she really had to go grocery shopping. About 10 minutes later the phone rang again, she picked it up without hesitating expecting it to be Danny again.

"Hello." she said.

There was complete silence on the other end. Samantha rolled her eyes. "For God's sake will you stop!" she said exasperated. There was a click as the line went dead. Samantha slammed the phone back down, this having put her in a worse mood.

About another 15 minutes and another prank call later, Danny showed up.

"Wow Sam, that smells great." he said when he came in her apartment.

"Thanks, it's almost ready." She smiled, pushing unwanted, annoying thoughts out of her mind, wanting to have a good time.

Danny went to set plates and cutlery out on the table, while Samantha dished up the pasta. The phone rang again while Samantha was busy holding a bowl of steaming spaghetti.

"I'll get it." said Danny. He picked it up. "Hello?" he said. He waited a moment and shrugged at Samantha. "No one." he replied putting the phone back on the stand.

"Probably just a wrong number." said Samantha cautiously, not wanting to admit to Danny that there had been many more.

"Yeah probably." agreed Danny. "So let's eat."

Samantha chuckled. "All you think about is food."

Danny just raised an eyebrow, his mouth already full of food.

Sam grinned and sat down opposite him.

"That was great." said Danny, leaning back in his chair once he had finished.

Sam smiled wistfully, remembering one of the more happier moments in her childhood. "My mom gave me the recipe ages ago. One of the only family traditions."

Danny looked at her, noting the wistful smile and smiled back. "You'll have to pass it on one day."

Sam glanced at Danny, "I suppose." She got up to clear the table. Danny also grabbing some plates.

"So, how did things go with that girl you had a date with the other night, umm Carla was it?" asked Sam, starting a new topic.

"It went fine. Nothing much to tell. We're going out again this weekend."

Samantha smiled. It was great that Danny still managed to go out and have a good time. She, on the other hand, hadn't had a proper date in...well in a long time.

"So what about you Sam? Have--" Danny was interrupted by the phone ringing again.

"Hello." said Samantha grabbing the phone out of the stand. Again there was nothing. "Hey! Whoever the hell this is, just piss off!" she began angrily, but was cut off by the person hanging up. She slammed the phone down hard, swearing to herself.

Danny cleared his throat, Samantha whirled round sharply. Danny was standing there, a curious look on his face. "Something you want to tell me?"

Samantha sighed. "I've just been getting these prank phone calls. I'm guessing the one you picked up earlier was one too."

"How long's it been going on?" Danny asked, concerned.

"Uhhh, that's the fourth one this evening, and its been happening for about 4-5 days."

"Sam! Why didn't you tell us earlier? It could be something serious."

"Nothing's happened, it's just a few calls. Probably some immature kid who got the number out of a phone book. C'mon Danny, it's nothing serious." she said.

"Well...." Danny started, but Sam was right nothing else had happened to suggest something else. "Ok, but if anything does happen you have to tell someone. Promise?"

"Danny I--"

"Promise?" repeated Danny

"Yes I promise." she replied.

"Good." said Danny firmly, although still worried for his friend despite her protests. She was too stubborn for her own good sometimes, always having to prove that she could handle things herself.

Samantha shut the door behind Danny after he left, making her promise (again) to call if anything happened. She sighed, ready to crawl into bed. When she finally got into bed, sleep came easily and she wasn't disturbed by unpleasant dreams, the first time in several nights.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Hope you all enjoy! Special thanks to NightMage for the reviews.

Dis: Only own plot.

Please review!!

Samantha yawned and rolled over in bed to turn off her alarm. She opened her eyes and glanced at the clock through sleepy eyes. 6:45, deciding to go for a quick run as she had plenty of time. She changed and had a quick breakfast.

She got out onto the street, shivering slightly at the sudden chill. She smiled as she ran past one of her neighbors, who was also out for an early morning jog. She ran down the street, turning to smile at the owner of the flower stand on the corner of the street. She turned back round and ran into a guy.

"God. I'm sorry." she apologised.

"It's fine." replied the guy shortly. He walked away quickly, his hat firmly over his head.

Samantha looked after him, surprised at his rudeness. She shrugged it off, and carried on running.

"Morning guys!" said Samantha walking into the bullpen.

"Morning." replied Martin and Vivian.

Danny smiled, from his seat at his desk. "You're very cheerful."

Samantha smiled. "Yeah. Actually managed to have a good nights sleep."

"Hey guys." said Jack, walking over from the office. "Remember Ken Jones?"

Samantha shuddered involuntarily, but nodded along with the others.

"We got a possible sighting just past the border of Pennsylvania. The local PD are going to keep us posted, but someone may have to go over there later."

"Alright." said Vivian nodding.

"Also we got a runaway case. The kid, Lily Pearce, left a note for her parents last night. She didn't say where she was going or anything, so they asked if we could find her. They live on 23rd and Western, number 26. Martin, you and I will go over there in a minute."

"Sure." said Martin.

"Ok, she's 15 and according to what the note said she was just sick of her family not letting her live her life."

"Is there any close friends or a boyfriend she would call?" asked Samantha.

"We'll find out from the parents. Sam, can you and Danny work on the phone records, and if she has a computer we'll get it to you guys. Viv, we'll get you the names of her friends asap, then you guys can go question them."

"Ok." said Danny.

"Let's get to work." said Samantha as Martin and Jack left.

Samantha managed to get hold of the phone records and was now going through them with Danny and Vivian.

"Wow, she makes a lot of calls." said Vivian.

"Yeah and this is only the past 5 days." Samantha smiled, "There's always lots to talk about at that age I guess."

"You find anything?" asked Danny, looking up from his own sheet of paper.

"This one number seems to come up a lot." said Sam writing it on a piece of paper.

Vivian glanced at it, "Yeah I've seen that a lot too."

"Close friend? Boyfriend?" speculated Danny.

Sam shrugged. "Jack and Martin should be sending us the name of her friends soon."

"Samantha?" called a male voice.

Sam looked round, surprised to see the guy from the flower stand, that she had waved to earlier.

"Hi Paul." she said getting up. They had formed a friendship a long time ago, when she would buy flowers regulary for an honorary aunt. She had known the woman, Sarah, for years, as she was a friend of the family (the one Sam would run to when things got too hard at home), she had had cancer and had liked the flowers to brighten up the place. So Samantha used to buy her flowers at least 3 times a week so her and Paul had gotten talking one time. However Sarah had passed away so Sam didn't buy flowers anymore, but she still talked to Paul regularly.

"So what's up?" she asked.

"Someone asked me to deliver this to you personally." he said handing her a box. "He gave me $50 extra, to make sure you got it."

"Thanks." said Samantha throwing a puzzled look to Vivian and Danny.

"Anyway I gotta get back to the stall." said Paul.

"Ok. See you later." Samantha walked back to the table they had been sitting around. Picking up a pair of scissors, she carefully opened the box.

Reaching inside she pulled out a small funeral wreath, with a note attached. Grabbing the note, she read it and paled. Danny reached over and grabbed the note, Vivian reading it over his shoulder. "I didn't appreciate the way you spoke to me on the phone Sammy. Time's running out; tick tock."

"Sam, what's going on?" asked Vivian firmly.

Samantha looked at them shocked. "I was just getting some prank phone calls--"

"I thought you said it was nothing serious?" said Danny.

"It's not, this is the first thing like this." she replied.

"How longs it been going on?" asked Vivian, looking at Sam worriedly.

"For about 5 days."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Vivian asked, although not surprised, Samantha wasn't one to admit that she couldn't handle something.

Sam sighed, "It wasn't a problem-just a few calls."

"God Sam...do you have any idea who it could be?" asked Danny.

Samantha shook her head.

"You should crash at my place tonight." said Danny decidedly.

"What?" protested Sam.

"Samantha, Danny's right. This is serious." said Vivian.

She scowled, "I can take care of myself."

"We know you can, we're just worried." said Danny gently, knowing how freaked Sam must be feeling, but still not wanting to show her insecurities.

"This person could be really dangerous." added Vivian.

"I'm staying at my place tonight, if anything at all happens I'll call you Danny." Samantha said stubbornly.

Danny and Vivian sighed, they knew there was no changing her mind once she had decided something.

"Alright." He gave in. "You have to promise though."

"I promise." said Samantha, smiling weakly, and dumping the flowers and the note back in the box. She sighed to herself, obviously quite disturbed about the flowers, and also scared. She tried not to feel scared, especially in her line of work as she had to deal with many unsettling situations, but this threat was directly aimed at her.

The phone rang suddenly, startling the others. Vivian being nearest picked it up. "Hello, Agent Johnson."

"Hey Viv." came Jack's voice.

"Anything?" asked Vivian.

"Yeah, she doesn't have a boyfriend, but her best friend is this girl, Amy Doran. She lives just a few blocks from Lily, on 69th and Western."

"Right, okay." said Vivian.

"You found anything?" Jack asked.

"Just one number that came up a lot. It may be the Amy Doran, I'll run the name and find out. You want us to head over to Amy's house or will you and Martin?"

"Martin and I will, we've finished here."

"Okay, see you soon." said Vivian and hung up the phone.

"Martin and Jack are going to talk to Amy, and then they will come back to the office." she reported back to the others.

"Did they find anything much?" Danny asked.

"Well Jack didn't say much, he said that Lily didn't have a boyfriend and that was about it."

"Okay." said Danny, shooting Sam a concerned glance. She was sitting at her desk, not really paying attention to what was going on around her.

"Hey, everythings going to be okay." he said.

Samantha smiled. She was glad she had friends like them, people she could always count on to make her feel better. "I know." she replied.

She excused herself, and headed for the restroom, needing to get some space.

Resting her shaking hands on the edge of the sink she gazed into the mirror. She saw the tiredness etched on her face, and sighed. Things were supposed to get easier, sort themselves out she had thought. When she was little, she used to think that when she got older things would be so much easier to handle. After the shooting, and everything that followed she finally felt that everything was getting better. Then it just took one case to mess her up again. She ran hot water over her hands, trying to stop them shaking. She'd never had to deal with anything like this before, and didn't quite know how to handle it.

Sam closed her eyes for a few moments. When she opened them she looked at the mirror and jumped to see Vivian's reflection next to hers.

"Jesus. You scared the hell out of me." she gasped.

"How are you? she asked, a concerned smile on her face. "The truth."

Samantha sighed. "Quite freaked to be honest." she gave a nervous laugh. "I don't really know how to deal with it. I mean, I've never been in a situation like this before."

"Well you've got us to help, you know we're always here if you need us." "Thanks Viv." replied Sam gratefully. "It means a lot." Sam had always thought of them being like family, but it was nice to hear it once in a while.

Vivian put a comforting hand on the taller womans shoulder.

"God. Everything's just so messed up." Sam almost whispered, trying to keep hold of her emotions.

Vivian sighed. She never went through anything like this herself, but she had friends that she knew from her many years of police work wh had also been in situations like this. She had seen it tear apart so many good people, and she and the rest of the team were going to make sure it didn't happen to Samantha.


	4. Chapter 4

Samantha and Vivian made their way back to the bullpen where Danny was still seated.

"Anything new?" asked Vivian.

Danny's head shot up. "Nope nothing."

"If you were a 15 year old girl, where would you run to?" murmured Vivian thoughtfully.

"Well the first bet would be a friends, probably one that the parents don't know too well. Then who knows?" Danny sighed.

"When I was 16 I ran away from home." said Samantha sadly, trying to get some insight into where this girl would go.

Vivian looked at her surprised, she never knew this. Looking at Danny she noticed he didn't seem phased by this revelation. She found herself wondering if she was the only one who didn't know, or if Jack and Martin didn't know either. She also felt saddened by the fact she realized that she didn't really know Sam that well, and she vowed to get to know her better, form a stronger friendship.

"So where did you go?" she asked.

"Well I got as far as the bus station in the next town."

"If she had gotten a bus then she could be well out of the state by now." observed Vivian.

The phone rang next to Danny. "Taylor." he said. Listening to the voice he mouthed to the others 'it's Jack'. He listened intently for a few moments.

"Okay. We're on our way." he asid and hung up, grabbing his jacket and telling Sam and Viv to do the same.

"While they were at Amy's, she got a phone call from Lily. They traced it to a payphone near a small motel just inside the state border. They want us to get over there." Danny said urgently.

They pulled up outside the motel, and saw Martin and who they assumed to be Lily's parents standing by a car.

They walked over to the others. "What's going on?" Vivian asked Martin.

"Jack's finding out from the manager if she's still here." he replied. "In the call she made to Amy, she said she was leaving."

"Here comes Jack." said Samantha, glancing towards the door of the main building.

"She's still here, room 6, he said. Viv, Mr and Mrs Pearce, if you come with me." he said. The four of them made their way over to room 6 and left the others standing by the cars.

"Well..this was quite an easy case." said Martin.

"Yeah if only they were all like this." sighed Sam.

A few minutes later Jack and Vivian re-emerged.

"So?" asked Danny.

"She was packing, just about to leave again. Her parents are talking things over with her now."

"I hope they sort everything out." said Sam glancing over at the closed door of room 6. We need more happy endings she thought to herself.

Back at the office a while later, they were all writing up the case reports.

"What's this?" Jack huffed from where he had almost tripped over the box on the floor that contained the flowers.

Samantha shot up quickly and started to walk over. "Oh its nothing, it's just..." Her voice trailed off as Jack opened the box and looked inside.

She sighed. She really hadn't wanted to tell anyone else if she could've helped it.

"Sam, what's this?" Jack asked cautiously, placing the flowers and the note on the table.

Martin, his attention having been caught, also came over.

"It's nothing." said Sam firmly.

Martin read the note, his eyes widening in shock, and fear for her. "It doesn't sound like nothing."

"I'm handling it." She snapped.

"Were you going to tell us?" Jack asked angry at whoever sent it and also angry at Samantha for trying to act as though everything was fine and like she hadn't just been threatened.

"There's nothing to tell!" said Sam frustrated.

"I'm your boss. I think I have a right to know if one of my agents is in danger. It could be really serious, you shoul-"

"Look, nothing has happened and I can perfectly well take care of myself, I've managed fine all these years, and I sure as hell don't need people to look after me now. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to finish my report at home." she finished angrily. She dumped the flowers and the note in the trash, then got her stuff together in record speed and stormed out the office.

After she left the others exchanged surprised glances, Sam hardly ever got mad.

Martin still had a worried look on his face. "Any idea who was sending it?"

Danny and Viv shook their heads. "We were here when she got it, she seemed pretty freaked, but she didn't seem to know who it was."

"What did it mean in the note, about talking on the phone?" asked Jack curiously.

"She's been getting these prank calls for the past few days." admitted Danny. "When she answered the person would wait for a few moments, then hang up. I was at her place the other day, and she yelled down the phone at whoever it was."

Jack frowned, wondering how serious it was and if Sam was in any danger.


	5. Chapter 5

Samantha walked into her apartment, stopping when a sudden blast of cold air hit her. She shivered and glanced around the room. The window in her living room was wide open, letting in huge gusts of cold air. Puzzled, she wondered if she had opened it this morning as she didn't remember doing so. She crossed the room dumping her purse on the chair and shutting the window.

Making her way into the kitchen she put on a pot of coffee, and turned up the heating trying to regain some of the lost heat.

She turned sharply, sure as anything that she had heard a noise from her bedroom. Picking up her gun she slowly crept towards her room, not making a sound. The door to her bedroom was slightly open, her gum aimed into the room, she went inside and quickly flicked on the light switch to see...an empty room. She sighed relieved, then grimaced paranoia was not good. Stowing her gun in it's usual hiding place, she went back into the kitchen area and poured herself a cup of coffee. Sinking into one of her comfy armchairs in the living room, she smiled, revelling in the hot liquid as it warmed her up.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but she just sat enjpying the silence and peacefulness of her apartment, not disturbed by phone calls or anything. Glancing at her watch she decided to make something to eat, do the case report, then just relax for a while. She hadn't had much time for relaxing lately, then have an earlyish night.

The next day after a peaceful night Samantha made her way into the FBI building. She cringed inwardly remember her angry words from the previous day. Sighing, and remembering to apologize, she strolled into the bullpen where the others were already seated at the conference table.

She walked over and before the others could say anything she said, "I'm sorry about yesterday. I do appreciate you looking out for me, I was just a little on edge."

Vivian and Martin both smiled forgivingly.

"It's fine, don't worry." said Danny.

"Yeah no harm done." added Jack, although he looked like he wanted to say more.

Sam smiled gratefully. "So what have we got?"

"So far. Paperwork." replied Vivian.

Hanging up her coat and putting her purse by her desk, Sam joined the others at the table. The day passed slowly, and there were no cases so Jack let them go home early, well around 4.30, after they had finished all the paperwork.

Danny and Martin had asked her to go out for a late lunch at a little Italian place, seeing as they didn't have much else to do. She accepted not really wanting to go back to an empty apartment.

"So Fitz, any plans for the holidays?" Danny asked, it was the beginning of December and Christmas was quickly approaching.

"Yeah, going home to Seattle to see the family. Should be great." he said sarcastically.

"I'm sure the famous Victor Fitzgerald isn't that bad." Martin raised an eyebrow, so Danny retracked his last sentence, "So maybe he is."

"Well you've got Jamie and your nieces there right?" added Samantha.

Martin nodded, "Yeah, the only part I'm looking forward too."

"What about the food?" Grinned Danny.

"That too. Anyway what about you guys?"

Samantha and Danny grinned at each other. "Well our usual Christmas thing." Began Danny.

Martin looked puzzled.

"We've had this tradition, for years now." Continued Sam.

"About 5 or 6." put in Danny.

"So yeah quite a while then. Anyway, we go see a Christmas show on Christmas Eve, then Christmas day we cook at one of our apartments, eat all day, open presents, watch feel-good Christmas movies."

"I said I would go see Raffie for a bit this year."

"Yeah how is he?" asked Sam.

Danny nodded. "He's doing good actually."

"I'm glad to hear that."

Martin watched Danny and Sam's interaction with interest, he had known they were close, but he hadn't realised they were that close, and he hadn't know about their Christmas thing, granted this was only the 3rd Christmas he known them for.

"What about your family Sam?" he asked.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Danny signal a definite no, and wondered what was so wrong about asking that. He watched as Sam's face and eyes hardened, and wondered if he had made a mistake. He opened his mouth to take it back, when she started talking. "I just don't talk to my mom, haven't done for years now."

Martin raised a curious eyebrow at Danny, who just sighed. Martin glanced back at Sam, who still had a hard expression on her face. "Sam, I'm sorry. We don't have to talk about it."

She looked at him, her eyes softening. "It's okay. You weren't to know."

They sat for a while longer, exchanging casual conversation, and deciding to all do something for New Years. By the time they left the restaurant, it was around 7.

Martin had driven them from the office, as he was the only on who had his car that day. He offered the others a lift, but they declined as he lived in the opposite direction and Samantha and Danny got into their own cabs home.

As soon as Samantha stepped into her apartment, the phone rang and she felt a feeling of apprehension as she picked up the phone. "Hello?" Again she was met with silence. Her good mood immediately dissipating, she hung up, wary of the stillness around her. A quick check of all the rooms and closets assured her that there was nothing there, and she settled down to watch some TV, before going to bed, one ear listening for anything out of the ordinary. Eventually after nodding off several times in front of the TV, she decided to go to bed. Still unable to shake away the feeling of apprehension, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

She woke with a start, turning over to look at the clock. 4.02. She groaned. Her sleep had been disturbed by those awful dreams. She sighed and sat up, switching on her bedside light.

Once she had woken up slightly, she noticed a plain white envelope on her pillow next to her. A wave of fear came over her and she opened the envelope with trembling hands. She pulled out two polaroids, one of her living room, and another of her, fast asleep. Samantha dropped them, shaking. She felt all the blood rushing to her head, and she saw white bursts of light. Feeling like she was either going to faint or throw up, she stumbled out of bed, and went to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face. She sank down onto the cold bathroom floor. She felt tears coming to her eyes, but held them back not wanting to give in to her weakness. She wasn't going to cry, she was stronger than that.

She shakily got back on her feet, and sat back on her bed, a shudder going through her. He had been through her apartment, he had been in her room. She cursed herself for being such a heavy sleeper. She couldn't stay her.

Grabbing her phone she dialled Danny's number, praying that he would answer.

"Hello." he mumbled, sounding half asleep.

"Danny." she said, surprised at how unstable her voice sounded.

"Sam? What's wrong?" he asked, now sounding more alert.

"He...he was in my apartment, in my room. Can I stay with you?"

"Of course you can. Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"Yeah."

"Okay, I'll come pick you up."

"Thank you." Samantha hung up the phone, grabbed some clothes and the pictures. She then sat curled up on the couch, her gun and the phone next to her, waiting for Danny.


	6. Chapter 6

She heard a knocking on the door, and tensed for a moment until she heard Danny's familiar voice yelling through the door.

She got up, still unsteadily, and opened the door sighing in relief to see Danny's concerned face. He cam and and shut the door, taking one look at her scared, pale face he pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you." whispered Sam.

Danny pulled away carefully looking into Samantha's face. "What happened?"

Instead of answering immediately Samantha turned round and picked up the pictures, her back to Danny. She was silent for a few moments, then turned back round and handed the pictures to Danny. "I uhh...I found them on my pillow when I woke up, and they weren't there when I went to sleep."

Danny looked at them, and his eyes widened. "So he was in your apartment, while you were asleep?" He involuntarily shivered, feeling sick at the thought and wondering how Samantha must be feeling. Another glance at her face, he smiled sadly he had always been able to read her. "C'mon, get your stuff we'll go back to mine."

Samantha grabbed her bag from the couch, Danny gently took it from her and escorted her out of her apartment, the photos still clutched tightly in his hand.

The next morning Danny and Samantha made their way into the offices. They were surprisingly early seeing as they hadn't had much sleep that night. Danny had tried to convince Sam to take the day off, but she insisted on coming in, saying it would take her mind off everything.

"Morning guys- What's wrong?" asked Vivian as they walked in, noting the serious looks on their faces.

Danny glanced at Sam and she gave a small nod. Gesturing for everyone to sit down at the conference table, Sam told them what happened the previous night.

"And you have no idea who it could be?" asked Martin concerned.

Samantha shook her head.

Vivian shuddered, feeling creeped and somewhat sickened like Danny felt when he had heard. She couldn't imagine the thought of so stranger going through her stuff and watching her when she slept.

"Are you staying with Danny then?" asked Jack.

"Yeah." said Sam.

"Good." he nodded. "Probably be best to stay away from your place for a little while."

"What should we do?" Danny asked the whole group.

Sighing Jack shrugged. "There's not much we can do. We have no leads-"

"Paul!" said Samantha suddenly. The others looked at her confused.

"The guy gave him the flowers to give to me, he probably got quite a good look at him."

"That's a start." said Jack. "You and Danny wanna ask him to come up?"

Danny nodded. "Sure."

"Remember the guy who paid you to deliver that box to me?" asked Samantha gently.

Paul nodded.

"I need you to tell us everything you can remember about him."

"Sure." said Paul, looking slightly confused. "Well, he did look like he didn't want to be seen, he had a baseball cap on that was pulled real low over his head. And he wore these thick, dark shades. So you could only see from the nose down."

"Did he have an accent?" asked Danny.

Paul shook his head. "No accent, his voice was very deep though."

"Any other things that made him stand out?"

"Not particularly, oh yeah. He was wearing a blue jacket with a bright orange stripe down the back. That just stood out."

Sam looked puzzled for a moment, trying to remember something.

"Sam?" asked Danny.

"I saw him." she said. "When I was jogging, I bumped into him."

"You sure?"

Samantha nodded. "Yeah, I remember the orange stripe."

"Okay." Said Danny. "Thanks for your help Paul. Do you think you could talk to one of our sketch artists quickly?"

"Sure no problem." said Paul following Danny out of the room, shooting Samantha a small smile. Still not entirely sure why he was being asked about the guy.

Samantha stayed where she was seated for a moment, trying to remember anything else about that guy, but unfortunately nothing significant came to mind, he hadn't looked familiar but she had only seen his face for a quick flash.

They had gotten the picture from the sketch artist, but it didn't give anything away, he looked like thousands of other guys you see in hats and glasses. None of the other members of the team saw anything familiar in him either.

So they had one lead, which was a small one anyway. They had an incomplete picture and the fact that he knew Samantha's number, where she lived, had access to her apartment and knew where she worked, none of which were very comforting.

Samantha felt herself growing more and more frustrated as the day drew to an end, they had found nothing else helpful, no fingerprints anywhere, no strand of hair, nothing. This guy was a pro. She sat at her desk, going through old cases, that had similar incidents. However, her mind wasn't really in it so she went through them unseeingly. Someone came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump like a foot in the air.

"Sorry." said Martin.

She smiled at him. "S'okay."

"How are you?" he asked kindly. Grabbing a chair so he sat facing her.

She sighed. To be honest, she was sick of people asking her how she was, looking at her like she was going to breakdown. But she was to tired to get into a fight so she replied, "Truthfully?"

He nodded.

"Freaked. I'm so glad I don't have to stay in my apartment."

"So Danny's being a good host?" laughed Martin.

"I'm always a good host." replied Danny indignantly from behind Martin.

"Really?"

Sam smiled, grateful for their playful banter, anything to take her mind off everything else.

Vivian stood up from her spot at the conference table, it had been a slow day, no new cases so they had spent their time on Sam's problem.

"Anything?" Martin asked Vivian as she came over.

She shook her head. "Nothing, unfortunately."

Sam looked down dispairingly at the piles of old cases on her desk.

The others exchanged worried looks about Samantha's safety, and how she was feeling. Especially the latter, it wasn't good to bottle up your feelings and pretend like nothing was wrong like Samantha seemed to be doing.

Danny squeezed Samantha's shoulder gently, letting her know he was there if she wanted to talk or anything. She smiled gratefully at him, at all of them, knowing she could always count on them.

Samantha's cell phone suddenly started ringing, breaking the silence.

"Hello?" she said. There was silence from the other end. She frowned, glancing at the caller ID, which said 'caller unknown'. Angrily she hung up.

"I think he's got my cell number." she informed the others.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Hope you enjoy!! Please review.

Disclaimer: Only own the plot.

The next day Samantha decided to go back to her apartment, just to pick up some things that she needed. So after work, she and Danny went over there. Samantha breathed heavily, and shakily inserted the key in the lock. Stepping inside, both her and Danny felt a rush of icy air like the time only a few days ago when the same thing had happened. This made her sure that she hadn't absent-mindedly left the window open herself that day. Looking around they noticed that all the windows were wide open, letting in the cold air and the AC was on full blast.

Samantha went into her bedroom, still feeling sick to know that he had been through her things. She started grabbing some clothes, when she heard Danny's shout from the living room. She looked over at where Danny was looking and saw a note lying on her coffee table that said, 'You can run, but you can't hide.' She shuddered.

"You got everything?" asked Danny, slipping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"Almost." she replied, going back to get the rest of her clothes followed by Danny.

"Did you see my organiser in there?" she asked after rummaging through her desk drawer.

Danny shook his head. "Nope sorry."

"It's missing, so is my address book." she replied, looking worriedly at Danny.

"You sure?" he asked.

"Positive. I always keep them in here. It's got everything in there, all my addresses. He'll have your number and everything. God." Samanatha sank down on the bed, resting her head in her hands. Danny sat next to her, holding her tightly.

"It'll be okay. You've got me, you've got all of us. And we're going to find this guy." he said firmly.

"Okay." whispered Samantha, leaning into Danny's embrace. "Why is he doing this? I just wish it would all stop."

"I know." said Danny and carried on holding her.

A few days later Samantha was still staying at Danny's, she hadn't been back to her apartment again, not really wanting to until everything was sorted out. She was sure that whoever it was had her cell number as she kept getting prank calls on it, and she was fairly certain that they also had Danny's number too as there had been several prank calls when she and Danny had been home.

However there were no more leads, the number wasn't traceable so they weren't able to find anything.

They had just finished a particularly hard case, that had lasted for several days. A young man had gone missing from his home downtown, where he lived with his wife and son. On the surface, everything had seemed happy and normal, but they had found that he was a drug dealer and had gotten deep into debt. They had eventually traced him down to Vegas where he was staying trying to gamble and scam people to get more money to pay off the debt.

The team had arranged to go out for drinks and a meal the next evening, seeing as they hadn't gone out in a while, and also it was the anniversary of the day Martin had joined the team.

"So, what do you want to eat tonight?" Danny asked Samantha looking through his fridge.

Sam shrugged, yawning. They had just got back from the office about 20 minutes ago, it was now 10pm. They had to stay and wait for Jack and Vivian to get back from Las Vegas, so they could write up their reports. They had had no time to eat or anything earlier, so now they were starving.

"So I guess it's pizza or pasta." said Danny.

Samantha grinned. "I'll make you that pasta you really liked if you want?"

"Sounds good." Danny smiled.

Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of pasta, and tomato sauce. Danny was setting the table, and they were laughing and joking. Danny was glad Samantha seemed to be putting unpleasant thoughts out of her head, at least for the evening.

At around 11 they went to bed, Danny in his room, and Samantha in the small guest room where she had been staying. Sam tossed and turned for awhile, thinking about the last case. She felt so sorry for the guys family, they had thought he was the perfect father and husband. Until she hit the double digits, she had thought her dad was the perfect father. However she had never known what he was really like. Eventually she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Danny was awoken around 3 by a scream coming from Samantha's room. He rushed in there and saw Sam tossing in bed a look of fear and pain on her face. Sitting on the bed, he tried to shake her awake.

"Sam, Sam!" he said urgently, she wasn't waking up. She just continued to murmur incomprehensible words.

"Samantha." he said, this time grabbing her hands which were ice cold. "Sam!"

Her eyes shot open at his last shout, she looked around her eyes wide and fearful.

"Shhh. It's okay." said Danny.

Sam seemed to calm down, and smiled at Danny thankfully.

"What was it about?" asked Danny.

Samantha shook her head. "I don't remember." she lied. Of course she remembered, it was the same dream as before, except this time she hadn't woken up when he pulled the trigger. She had felt the bullet going into her, that's when she screamed.

Danny looked at her, obviously not believing her. "Sam, I know you remember. Tell me."

She sighed, she knew there was no use arguing with him. "Remember that case, with that woman Joanne Kelly who had been kidnapped."

Danny nodded.

"I've been having this dream since then, ummm I was just standing in the warehouse, looking at the guy who did it and I couldn't move. Then he raises his gun and pulls the trigger. Usually then I wake up, but this time I didn't...I felt the bullet. It felt so real."

Danny took both Samantha's hands in his, trying to warm them up and offering her some comfort. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know."

They sat for a few moments. "It's alright now. Why don't you go get some sleep." said Samantha.

"You sure you're alright?"

She nodded.

"Okay. Night." said Danny, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Night." she replied, curling back up in her covers trying to warm herself up. She sighed, and turned over trying to get back to sleep.

"Morning." said Sam plodding into the kitchen around 7:30 where Danny was already up making coffee.

"Morning. You want some?" he asked holding up the almost full coffee pot.

"Mmm yes please." said Sam gratefully, grabbing a mug.

"You manage to get back to sleep alright?"

Sam nodded, not particularly wanting to talk about it. Danny sensing that, changed the subject.

"You still up for going out to dinner later?"

"Of course." she replied.

"Think we're going to the Italian place we went to last time, around 6. I know Viv has to be home quite early, she promised Reggie."

"Sounds fine."

They arrived at the office around 8:15.

"Morning." said Vivian.

"Morning." they replied.

"So, what's happening today?" asked Danny.

"Van Doren wants the finalised reports from the last case, no new cases yet."

"Okay." said Samantha walking over to her computer to get her report.

"Is 6 outside that Italian place good for you?" Danny asked Vivian.

"Sounds fine."

"Good. What about you Jack?" Danny asked seeing Jack walk into the bullpen.

"Sorry, what?"

"Dinner by that Italian place at 6?"

"Yeah that's fine."

"Good, now just need to make sure it's ok with Martin."

"I talked to Van Doren, and she said that when the reports are done, she wants us to check over the details of that case with Joanne Kelly, and Ken Jones...who there's still no sign of. See if we can find out where he is."

"Sure." said Samantha.

"We're on it." said Danny.

Martin walked over a few minutes later. "Morning." he said cheerfully.

"You sound happy." said Danny suspiciously. "What is it?"

Martin smiled, "Can't I just be happy?"

Danny looked at him warily. Sam smiled, "Remember it's his year anniversary."

"Oh yeah. Well congrats Fitzy. You made it."

"Thanks." said Martin, and the others added their congratulations.

"Well would it be possible to catch a ride with someone? My cars in the shop, which is why I'm late." said Martin.

"Yeah I can, I've got to pick something up from your direction anyway." said Danny.

"Thanks." said Martin.

Later that afternoon after all the paperwork was done, around 4:30. Danny dropped Samantha back at his apartment, he had to go and pick up some things from a store near Martin's apartment. He had ordered a new lamp for the guest room and some other homey things, which Samantha teased him mercilessly about.

Samantha sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, casually channel flicking. Stopping on a program that looked somewhat interesting, she decided to relax for a bit. Before she knew it, she felt the lack of sleep from the night before catching up with her, and she felt her eyes closing. She was disturbed a little while later by the phone ringing, she sat up and looked at her watch. It was around 5:30, Danny should be at Martin's now. Reaching over she picked up the phone wondering who it could be.

"Hello?" she said.

"Is this Agent Spade?" said an unfamiliar male voice.

"Yes. Who is this please?"

"This is Charlie Wood chief of police at the downtown police department. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"What?" asked Samantha dreading what was coming.

"There was an accident just off 57th, Agent Danny Taylor was involved in a car crash."

"But he's okay right?" choked Samantha.

He sighed. "I'm sorry, but he died instantly."

Samantha broke into sobs, and hung up the phone mumbling, "Thank you for telling me."

Danny, her best friend was dead. Samantha collapsed onto the couch, unable to contain the uncontrollable sobs. She couldn't believe it, she didn't want to believe it. She felt like a part of her had been ripped out. When she had first met Danny, they had immediately got on so well. They had both come from shaky, unhappy childhoods and understood each other so well. She couldn't believe that he was gone. So she just sat, lost and alone, curled up on Danny's couch.

About 15 minutes later she heard a rattling at the door and Martin walked in. He stopped in shock at seeing Samantha's red eyes and blotchy face. "What's wrong?" he said immediately rushing to Samantha's side.

She just looked at him and broke down again. He pulled her into a hug. He looked up to see Danny walking in the door, carrying a box of stuff from the store. Danny looked confused at seeing Samantha crying and looked at Martin. Martin shrugged. Danny walked over to Sam, and gently tapped her on the shoulder. She looked at him, and her eyes widened. "Danny?" she whispered. He nodded puzzled. She reached her hand out to him, and touched his cheek, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she fainted.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Here's the next part enjoy!! I'll post the next after Christmas, hopefully before if I can. Anyhoo Happy Christmas!!!!!!!! Enjoy the holidays, and please review for a Christmas present.

Disclaimer: In other chapters.

CSICubbiesFan, sorry don't even know what Strawberry Shortcake is. What is it?

Danny looked at Martin in complete shock when Samantha fainted. He quickly laid her down on the couch, her legs stretched out, ordering Martin to get a glass of water.

"Sam." he said gently tapping her cheeks. "C'mon, wake up. What happened?" he asked Martin.

"I came in and she was just sitting here, she looked like she'd been crying. Then you came over and she just fainted."

Danny frowned. "Samantha, come on."

Samantha felt like she was just under the surface of the pool or something, everything seemed heavy and the voices around her were indistinct and fuzzy. She squinted and could make out two figures near her, one that looked like Danny...which couldn't be true. God, she must be hallucinating.

"Sam." she heard fuzzily.

With great effort she forced her eyes open all the way, and blinked several times to clear her vision. She looked at the figures and saw Martin and Danny. Her head spun again. Danny? She struggled to sit up and was helped by some strong arms.

"Danny? Thank God." she said and flung her arms around him, tears of joy coming to her eyes. Danny looked at Martin puzzled.

"What happened Sam?" asked Martin.

Samantha released her hold on Danny and looked at Martin. "I got a phone call from this guys, Charlie something, Chief of Police, and he said that there had been a car accident and that...that you'd been killed." she finished switching her gaze to Danny.

Both Danny and Martin looked shocked. "Who would do that?" asked Martin angrily.

"I'll bet it's that guy that's been harassing Sam." answered Danny.

"Hey, who was the police guy that called you?" asked Martin.

"Umm Charlie...something..."

"C'mon try and remember."

"Ok. Charlie.... Oh, Charlie Wood."

"You sure?"

"Yup positive." Samantha nodded.

Getting up Martin picked up the phone and dialled to local police department.

"Hello, may I please speak to Charlie Wood?"

There was a pause as Martin listened to whoever was on the other end.

"Oh sorry. Thanks anyway." He hung up and turned to look at them a grim look on his face.

"There is no Charlie Wood."

Samantha sighed.

"Look Sam, if you wanna take a rain check for tonight-" began Danny.

"It's Martin's big night," protested Samantha. "I'm fine to go, let me just freshen up first." She went into the bathroom, to remove the signs of tears and Danny and Martin sat in a worried silence until she came out. A few minutes later she returned looking calm and composed, until you looked into her eyes and saw the hurt that the phone call had caused even though it had been fake.

"You ready?" she said a cheerful smile forced on her face.

"Sure." said Danny, grabbing his keys of the table. Him and Martin both followed Samantha out, exchanging concerned glances at her forced care-free demeanour.

They arrived at the restaurant only 10 minutes late, and used the excuse of traffic being bad, Samantha having pleaded, argued to outright blackmailed them into not telling the others, not wanting to ruin the night.

They settled down at a table, ready to enjoy the night and to celebrate Martin's 1 year anniversary.

"So how do you feel Marty? Knowing that you survived a year?" asked Danny grinning.

"I feel great actually. I know not all of us really-uhhh-meshed when I first joined." he glanced smirking at Danny who shrugged sheepishly. "But I just wanna say thanks for giving me a chance."

"Here here." said Vivian, raising her glass. They all clinked glasses, their thoughts running back over the past year. The past year had been hard for everyone, struggling to adapt to a new team and learning to work together, several horrific cases and the whole incident in the bookstore where they almost lost one of their own. Vivian glanced over at Samantha concerned, Sam had been strangely quiet all evening. Vivian made a mental note to remember to talk to her later about how she was.

At around 11, they all decided to call it a night, Jack and Vivian having families to get home to.

"See you bright and early tomorrow guys!" called Jack climbing into his car.

"I can give you a lift if you want Martin." said Vivian, it made more sense for her to drive him as she lived more in his direction that Danny or Sam.

"Sure, thanks Viv." said Martin. "Night." he nodded to the others.

"Night Martin." replied Sam, "Night Viv."

Danny waved and added his goodnights.

She and Danny climbed into his car. "Thanks for not telling them tonight." said Samantha, "It would have ruined the evening."

"No problem. You are going to tell them tomorrow right?" he asked pulling the car out of his parking spot.

Samantha sighed and nodded. "I guess I should."

"Course you do! We need to figure out who this guy is, and how dangerous he is."

"I know."

"Are you sure you're alright?" Danny asked Samantha.

"I think so. Having you guys really helps, I don't think I could manage if I was by myself."

"Well if there is anything I else I can do..."

"Thanks Danny, but it's okay. I mean I'm already staying with you."

Danny and Samantha exchanged smiles.

The rest of the drive was quiet until they got back to Danny's apartment.

He pulled up in the car park, both of them climbing out and making their way up to Danny's apartment. Too engrossed in their own thoughts, they didn't notice a figure watching them from the main lobby of the building.

"Morning." Yawned Danny as he ambled into the kitchen to see Sam already awake making coffee.

"Hey, sleep ok?"

He nodded, "I should be asking you. Have the nightmare?"

She nodded.

Danny looked concerned, "Maybe you should see someone."

Samantha shook her head stubbornly. "I'm not going back to see the therapist." After the bookstore shooting she had been seeing Lisa Harris, but she had stopped going about a month ago and she didn't want to go again.

"If they get worse, or don't go you really should." insisted Danny.

"Maybe." she said taking a sip of her coffee.

Suddenly there was a noise at the door, casuing Samantha to jump and spill the scalding liquid on her hand.

"Shit." she swore. Danny grabbed a cloth to wipe up the coffee, and told Sam to put her hand under the cold tap. He wiped up the coffee and went to the door.

He saw a piece of paper that had been slid under the door and picked it up cautiously. He looked out the peephole, but couldn't see a sign of anything or anyone.

He walked back into the kitchen, unfolding the note as he went.

"What is it?" asked Sam from where she was standing her hand under the tap.

"It says; don't get too comfortable Sammy."

Samantha frowned as she dried her hands. "Maybe I shouldn't stay here. I don't want to put you at any risk."

"Sam, I offered you a place. I want you to stay. You shouldn't be by yourself."

She smiled at him, wincing slightly as she ran her finger over her scalded hand.

"Does it hurt?" asked Danny nodding at her hand.

She raised it for him too see, part of the back had gone a painful shade of red. "Oww." he said.

"Yeah." Looking at it she decided to put it back under the cold tap again.

"Morning you two." said Vivian when they arrived at the office. Jack glanced up and smiled his good morning.

"Hey...what happened to your hand Sam?" asked Martin catching a glimpse of the red area that still looked as raw and painful as before.

"Just spilt some coffee." she replied.

Danny coughed from next to her, nudging her with his elbow.

She rolled her eyes, "I got this too." she said handing Vivian the letter, Jack and Martin reading it from either side of her.

"And I got another phone call yesterday." she hesitated, Vivian and Jack looking at her expectantly.

"It was before we went out, I got a phone call from a guy called Charlie Brown, who said he was from the local PD. He said that Danny had been in a fatal car crash."

Vivian and Jack looked at her in shock.

"When Martin and Danny got there it obviously wasn't true. Martin rang up the PD, and asked if a Charlie Brown worked there, but there was no one there by that name."

"So you think it's that guy who's been stalking you?"

Sam nodded.

"Did you two know?" Vivian asked Danny and Martin.

"Why didn't you say something last night?" Jack asked.

"I told them not too, I didn't want to ruin the night." Sam put in.

"So whoever it is, definitely knows where you are now?" asked Vivian.

"Looks like it." Sam sighed.

Vivian frowned, worried for Sam's safety. "Be careful ok?" she warned.

"I will." said Sam smiling warmly at Vivian.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Happy New Year people! Hope you all had a good holiday.

Enjoy this part, sort of a filler. It will get more exciting soon.

The day was long and tiring, again a lot of it was spent trying to figure out who it could be who was harassing Samantha. None of their ideas were plausible, and they still ended up right where they started on square one, with no more ideas or theories than they had when they started.

"This is ridiculous." said Danny frustrated, slamming another useless casefile down on the table. It was late in the afternoon and they were all getting headaches and going cross eyed from reading through old cases and paperwork all day.

"Nothing huh?" said Vivian.

Danny shook his head, so did the others. Samantha sighed heavily, attracting the others worried gazes. She rolled her eyes, it was nice to know they were concerned but she was coping fine - she didn't need to have a babysitter or anything.

At around 5:30, Jack called it quitting time and they still hadn't found anything useful. Vivian was very worried about what this meant, this guy was obviously a pro. He managed to get into Sam's apartment somehow while she was there, and now he knew where Danny lived. They had no concept of how dangerous he could be; therefore they didn't know how much danger Sam was in. They could guess (because of the fake police call) that he didn't seem to care about lying or what the lies would do to the person. But nothing concrete that would help them find who it was.

"Sam?" called Vivian to Samantha who was packing up her stuff.

"Yeah?" replied Sam.

"You feel like going for a quick coffee or something?"

Sam smiled, "That sounds good." She turned to Danny. "Hey Danny, I'll meet you back at the apartment later ok?"

"Sure. Be careful alright?"

Samantha grinned, "Yup."

Samantha and Vivian settled down in a booth in a nearby coffee shop.

"How's Reggie doing? You said he was having a little trouble at school a while ago."

"He's fine now, it was just a small problem with one of the other kids."

Samantha smiled and took a sip of her coffee, a far off look coming into her eyes. "I wish that this whole thing had never happened." she said after a long pause. "They never teach you how to handle things like this. I don't know what to do."

Vivian shifted in her seat, trying to find the right words. "There are so many ways to handle a situation like this, depending on the person. I guess you should just follow your gut instinct."

"I suppose. Why are they doing this?" Samantha raised her eyes and looked Vivian straight in the eyes for the first time during their conversation. Vivian inwardly cringed at the resignation in her eyes. She felt her heart ache, not used to seeing that look in her co-workers eyes.

She sighed, not knowing how to answer because she honestly didn't know and that scared her, scared her to think that some people were capable of doing those things.

Samantha's eyes searched Vivian's face, looking for an answer or certainty that it was going to be okay, but found hope and an offer of friendship and support instead. Vivian wasn't certain that everything would be fine, she could only hope and pray that it would be.

They finished their coffees in silence before Vivian drove Samantha back to Danny's.

"Hey Danny." said Samantha as she walked into the apartment.

Danny was sitting on the couch, randomly flicking through channels. "Hey." he replied turning round and smiling. "Have a good time?"

Sam nodded. "Looks like you had a productive evening."

"Of course." Yawning Danny got up, stretched and sat down at the table.

Samantha got herself a glass of water and joined Danny at the table.

"Doesn't this whole thing really freak you out?" he asked bluntly.

Sam sighed, he was a lot more direct than Vivian which was a good thing - usually. Danny was her best friend, she had known him for so long, and because of this she couldn't lie to him, and he couldn't to her.

"When I got that call that said you had been in an accident- I was- it just- I don't know. I thought it was real. And I just couldn't begin to imagine you not being here."

Danny looked at her and saw the tears forming and realised how much that phone call must have made her suffer. He could guess at what he might feel like if he had got a call like that. Sam was his best friend, and he didn't know how he would go on if she wasn't there. He reached across the table and held her hand, squeezing it gently.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

"That guy's sick Danny. To play with people's emotions like that." She paused. "When I saw you, I couldn't believe it- I thought I was hallucinating. I can't describe how happy I was when I realised that it was actually you."

"We are going to catch that guy Sam." said Danny resolutely.

"I hope so, I don't want to have to deal with more of his sick jokes."

Danny smiled, "We will get him." I just hope we get him soon, who knows what he's capable of, he thought to himself not wanting to share his worries with Sam.

Sam sighed and stood up." I'm gonna get an early night." she said. "Alright." said Danny standing up. "Think I'm gonna see what's on TV."

"Night." said Samantha walking over to give Danny a quick hug.

"Night Sam." he replied. He sighed a soft, sad sigh as he watched Sam walk away. This was bothering her more that she admitted. Sam was his family, his sister and he hated to see her hurting. He promised to do whatever he could to get this guy.


	10. Chapter 10

A/n: Here you go, enjoy. I'll post the next part asap. Please review.

At around 2 Danny woke with a start, he had been sure he heard a noise. He was quite a light sleeper so even the smallest thing would wake him up. He cautiously got up and crept quietly into the kitchen, not wanting to disturb Samantha in case he was just hearing things. Danny squinted in the darkness, looking around for anything suspicious. Walking into the living room he was completely unaware of the figure behind him. The figure came quietly up behind him, feeling a tingle down his spine Danny whirled around only to be caught with a sharp blow to his face. Stunned he stumbled backwards, the guy came forward and punched him again. This time Danny fell on the floor, fighting hard to stay concious and keep Sam safe. While Danny was on the floor the man pinned him down and held a cloth over his mouth and nose. Danny felt himself growing light headed as he inhaled the potent fumes. The last thing he heard was the man whisper "Goodnight" before he blacked out.

The man grinned an evil grin when Danny's limp body slumped on the floor. He hauled Danny into one of the kitchen chairs, and tied him to it. Once he was sure that he was secure and wouldn't wake up for a while he continued down the hallway.

Samantha woke when she heard a noise at her door, bleary eyed she looked to see a figure walk through the door. She felt chills down her spine and an overwhelming feeling of fear overtook her. He turned and Samantha caught a glimpse of his face in the light from the gap between the curtains. She gasped, it was the face that had haunted her nightmares for many nights now. The same smirk, and uncaring malice in his blue eyes that she had been seeing almost every night. Ken Jones. They hadn't found him after he had left the warehouse, and they had often wondered what he had been doing. Now she knows. She scrambled to get out of bed and grab her gun but he was too quick for her and he smacked her across the face and threw her back on the bed.

"Danny!" she yelled.

"He can't hear you." he sneered.

"What did you do?"

"Don't worry, I didn't hurt him- much." he chuckled.

Samantha looked at him, fear clearly written on her face too dazed to try and stand. He stood above her a menacing, intimidating figure. "What do you want?" she whispered.

He smirked and pinned her down, locking both her arms above her head with one of his hands.

"Ever since I saw you in the warehouse, you're always in my head. I knew that you had to be my next one. I had to have you." he whispered in her ear, causing her to tremble in scared apprehension. He stroked her cheek with his ice cold hand, she turned her head to avoid his touch which seemed to anger him and he hit her hard in the cheek causing her bite her lip and spit out blood.

"So beautiful." he gazed at her intently, she cringed his gaze making her incredibly uncomfortable. He caressed her cheek again, and she forced herself not to cringe away not wanting to be hit again. His hand trailed down her neck, collarbone and over her chest. She shuddered, nearly sick with fear and struggled harder. He punched her again in the face, and again and again until she almost passed out. Forcing her eyes to stay open she looked into his cold, cruel blue eyes. His free hand moved to stroke her hair, and he moved in to take a deep breath, inhaling the scent of her hair. She shuddered.

"Scared?" he asked mockingly. "This is nothing."

His hand trailed over her chest again, and down her stomach. His intention was distinct now, and she tried to push him away, free her hand, her legs, anything to get him away. She struggled against him for a few moments, but he was a lot stronger and her head was spinning form the beating making it harder to focus.

She felt tears fall down her face at the thought of what was going to happen and she that she couldn't stop it. "Keep still." he snarled.

"Danny!" she yelled again, knowing it was useless but she couldn't stay quiet.

"Shut up." he ordered, reaching into a pocket and taking out a cloth. He pressed this hard over her mouth and nose, she struggled to no avail. She grew lightheaded and when he was sure she couldn't manage to move her arms he released them. Her last concious thoughts were of his cold hands pulling at the string of her pyjama pants.

By the time the sun rose, and hit the room- it was empty.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Well let me know what you think. Enjoy.

"Morning." said Martin as he walked into the bullpen.

"Morning." replied Jack.

"The others not here yet?" Martin asked, glancing round the near empty room.

"Viv's there." said Jack nodding towards the door at Vivian who was just entering.

"Morning guys." called Vivian as she reached them. "No sign of the others?"

Jack and Martin shook their heads.

"You think we should call?" she asked.

The others exchanged worried glances. Usually they would just wait for them to show up, with the business with Sam's stalker had made everyone just that little bit more worried and cautious.

"I'll call." said Vivian. She dialled Danny's apartment and waited a few moments. "No one's answering there. I'll try their cell phones." Two failed calls later and the others were even more worried.

"Well we're probably over reacting, but do you think we should go over there?" asked Vivian.

"Errr...I dunno." said Martin. "What do you think Jack?"

Jack sighed and glanced at his watch. "If they were stuck in traffic or had car trouble or something they probably would have called by now...so...well there's no harm in checking. Viv and I will go, Martin you stay here in case they show up."

"Alright." said Martin, even though anyone could tell he wanted to go too.

Vivian and Jack arrived at Danny's apartment building. Seeing Danny's car still parked, they hurried up to his place anxiously. The door was closed and there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary.

"Danny! Sam!" called Vivian knocking on the door. There was silence from inside.

"Jack you got the key?" asked Vivian.

Jack nodded and reached into his pocket, they all had copies of keys at the office in case of emergencies. He unlocked the door and cautiously went in followed by Vivian.

She gasped in shock once they got inside seeing an unconcious Danny tied to a chair. Vivian rushed over to him, untying him and trying to get him to wake up, Jack took out his gun and went to check the rest of the apartment.

"Danny." said Vivian gently shaking him. "Danny."

Danny groaned, and stirred a little.

"It's clear, but there's no sign of Sam." said Jack worried.

Danny opened his bleary eyes, squinting against the light to see Jack and Vivian's familiar faces. Jack got him a glass of water.

"What happened?" asked Vivian once he had had a few sips.

"There was this guy....he hit me...oh God, is Sam alright?" asked Danny still somewhat out of it.

"We better call an ambulance." said Jack.

"I'm on it. I'll call Martin too." replied Vivian.

"What else can you remember Danny?" asked Jack.

"He had a cloth...think it was chloroform, then I don't remember any more until just now."

"You just rest for a moment, we'll get you check out soon."

"What about Sam?" asked Danny again.

Jack sighed. "She's not here."

"What?" asked Danny distressed. "Oh God...we have to find her..." He tried to get up.

"Danny you just stay here. I'm going to look around."

He gestured to Vivian who was still on the phone that he was going to look around.

Walking into the guest room where Sam had been staying, he noticed the cloth on the floor. He also saw the blood on the pillow, and grimaced. Glancing around he saw that there was bedding all over the floor but apart from that there was no sign of a struggle. Taking a second glance he saw a note pinned to the mirror, much like the other Sam had already recieved. It said, 'Let's play hide and seek. It's your turn to seek. You find us soon enough Sammy will still be alive.' Jack shuddered.

"Viv, we're going to need to call the forensics team...and uhh you should see this." he said walking back to the others. She nodded. "Alright I'll look in a moment. I called Martin he said he'd come over too. I'll just call forensics."

Around 2 hours later they were back at the office after Danny had been checked over by the paramedics, all worried sick for Samantha. They were now waiting for forensics to call with what they had found. They sat anxiously surrounding the phone, every minute they waited could be risking Samantha's life more and more, they had to find her if they were going by what the note threatened.

When the phone rang Jack picked it up. "Hello?" he said.

"Hello, this is Dominic Holden from forensics."

"Yes, what did you find?"

Jack heard a sigh from Dominic. "Well the good news is that there were fingerprints all over the place, we sent them to be run now, so you should have a name soon. That's the good news."

"The bad news?"

"There was definitely chloroform on the cloth that was used to subdue Agent Taylor. And the blood on the pillow was mixed with salivia, probably from a hit to the face. We're running tests to find out who's it was. And uhhh...." Dominic hesitated.

"What?" asked Jack carefully.

"We found some traces of semen on the bed."

Jack almost gagged. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." he replied.

"Okay, thank you."

Jack hung up the phone and turned to the others.

"There's some good news, who ever it was left fingerprints every where."

"That's strange." mused Vivian. "The other times there weren't any fingerprints or anything."

"What's the bad news?" Danny looked at Jack his eyes large with concern.

Jack sighed. "Forensics found that there were traces of semen on the bed."

"Oh God..." said Martin turning pale.

"Does that mean...." began Vivian but cut herself off answering her own question.

"It's my fault." said Danny distraught. "I should have fought him harder."

"He drugged you Danny, there's nothing else you could have done." said Jack strictly, they weren't going to get anywhere if everyone started blaming themselves.

"Poor Sam." whispered Danny, not even being able to imagine what she must be feeling like to be violated in that way.

Vivian as another woman felt her heart go out to Samantha, she also could only imagine how traumatic it would be, and having to deal with the long term effects of something as horrific as that....it was going to be tough.

"You know, this time the guys is leaving fingerprints, and something to get DNA from. Either he slipped up, or he's playing games and figured that it was time for us to find out who it was. And I'm guessing it's the latter." said Martin.

"That guy is one sick bastard." said Danny vehemently.

They sat in silence for a while, dwelling on their own thoughts, mainly of Sam and if she was alright, waiting for the phone to ring so they could find out who it is.

After a while the phone rang, and they were startled out of their own little worlds. Jack reached over and grabbed it.

"Hello?" he said, "You got a name?" He paused for a few moments and then his eyes widened in shock. "You sure?....Ok bye."

"It's Ken Jones." he said still shocked.

"The case we had a few weeks ago? The guy who kidnapped those women?" askd Martin.

Jack nodded. "He disappeared, and we never found him."

"Samantha had several nightmares about him...nightmares about when you found him and his last victim." he said nodding at Jack. He had the others full attention now.

"She didn't mention anything." said Martin.

"You know Sam, she wouldn't." replied Danny.

"What happened in the dreams? Did she tell you?" asked Vivian.

"She said it was like she was back in the warehouse...but this guy, Ken Jones, he shot her and then she woke up. She said she had the same dream several times."

Vivian shivered, "Well let's hope it doesn't come true."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Well I couldn't just leave you hanging could I?

Enjoy!

Samantha carefully opened her heavy eyes, not wanting to agitate the already pounding headache she had discovered. Her whole body ached, and her head felt so heavy but light and fuzzy at the same time. She cringed, she didn't even want to know what he had done while she was unconscious. She was tied to a chair in a dark room, there was one small window, but nothing as to hint at where she was or anything. Looking around she saw Ken standing at a table on the other side of the room. Her head growing heavy she let it fall back to rest on the back of the chair. Her ears still alert to what was going on, Ken hadn't seemed to have noticed that she was awake yet, thankfully.

"Where do we start?" asked Martin.

"Well we should check out the warehouses that he was in before Martin if you come with me, and Danny can you find out any places he has lived in recently. Viv, can you get the old case file and see if he has been using his cell much lately? Anything you can get that will help us find Sam."

Danny nodded, trying to bury the anxiety and fear he was feeling for Sam so he could get the work done.

"Okay." said Vivian, she turned retrieving the Sam's official FBI photo from a file and pinning it on the missing board. She sighed gazing at the picture for a moment, praying that she would be alright.

"Find her." Danny said quietly to Martin in forlorn hope, catching him before they left.

"We will." replied Martin giving Danny a comforting smile knowing how much he must be tearing himself up about Sam getting taken while he was there, being unable to stop it. Martin caught up with Jack and they both left the office, intent on finding Samantha.

Danny searched through the database, looking for where he could have taken Sam.

"Anything?" asked Vivian, coming back with the old case file, one they had hoped they wouldn't have to see again.

Danny shook his head. "No, all the recent ones have been rented out again. He could just be squatting somewhere. Hopefully they'll find him at the warehouses."

"He won't go there again Danny." replied Vivian gently, she knew what Danny was doing. Trying to convince himself that they would find Sam soon, that she would hopefully be in the first place they looked.

Danny sighed and returned his gaze to the computer screen.

"You wanna help me look through this?" Vivian asked opening the file.

"Sure." replied Danny, "There's nothing here anyway."

Vivian lifted the papers out of the file and set them down on the table. A photograph caught her eye and she picked it up, bile rose in her throat as she saw a picture of one of Ken's other victims. She set the picture back down, covering it with other papers not wanting to be reminded about what could happen if they didn't find Sam in time. Danny looked at her curiously.

"We have to find her." was all Vivian said.

Samantha heard heavy footsteps approaching her, but kept her eyes shut hoping she could pretend she was still unconscious so he would leave her alone for a while. But she had no such luck. He bent down next to the chair, his face so close that she could feel his breath tickling her skin. She kept still, trying not to show that she was awake.

"Hey." he said, slapping her cheeks. "Wake up!" He continued hitting her already painfully bruised face until she couldn't take it any longer and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw, his haunting blue eyes and cruel leer. She fought back the urge to retch and glared at him defiantly.

"Mornin' how you feeling?" he sneered, moving so he was in front of her.

"Like you care." she rasped.

"Course I do, if you're feeling better I need to know so I can make you feel worse." He chuckled and punched her hard in the ribs. Sam felt all the air go out of her and doubled over in pain.

"You think they're looking for you yet? Do you think they've even found Agent Taylor? I left them a nice little note Sammy..."

Sam cringed at the nickname.

"They should know that I'm the one doing this by now." he continued.

"What do you want?" she asked having regained her breath.

"You." he grinned "And now I have you. Make yourself at home..." He glanced at her bound arms and legs and sniggered cruelly. "Believe me, you won't be going anywhere for a long time."

He turned away and Samantha breathed a sigh of relief a little too early, as he turned round with a swinging fist straight into her face. Samantha flinched in pain but held in a small yelp. She could ignore the pain....for now anyway but she didn't know how much longer. Please find me, she thought to herself, before her thoughts were stopped by Ken retrieving a piece of metal piping and swinging it at her leg. This time she couldn't help the scream that came from her, another punch soon followed and she blissfully welcomed the darkness that overtook her.

18 hours missing.

Sam had been missing since at least 2 this morning and they had no leads, nothing that may help them find Samantha. They had looked everywhere they could think of and each time found nothing. So by 8, they didn't know any more than they had known at 9. Still they weren't giving up hope. They couldn't let themselves give up hope, friends don't give up.

Danny stood out on the balcony gazing out over the lights of the city, a sight which usually helped him but now...all the lights just seemed to be mocking him, still shining as brightly as ever. Not aware that there was one light on one desk that wasn't shining brightly and no one knew when it would light up the room again.

"Where are you Sam?" he whispered to himself. Again looking at the lights as if one would lead the way to her. "Please be okay."

"She's strong, she'll be alright." said Vivian who had just walked out to join him. She handed him his jacket which he shrugged on gratefully, wondering if Sam was warm enough. The bitter December chill cutting straight through him.

"You saw what that guy did do those woman- we know what he already did to Sam. How can she be alright?"

"She'll get through it. I mean we're not going to leave her to deal with it by herself are we?"

Danny shook his head.

"See, she's got her friends to help her."

Danny sighed. "Yeah."

"We'll get her back."

"Yeah we will." said Danny firmly, nodding his head. He straightened up, determined to find his friend. "There's got to be something we're missing."

Samantha sighed and looked at the small window, one of her eyes had swollen shut so she couldn't see very well. She could tell it was getting dark but she had no idea what time it was. He had gotten tired of tormenting her a while ago and had retreated to a chair (one a lot more comfy than hers) in the corner of the room. She shifted, trying to work her hands free for what must have been the millionth time that day but still there was no use, they were impossible to get out of. Her thoughts drifted back to the others, Danny especially. Ken hadn't told her what he did to him- she hoped he was okay and that they were working to find her. The room was getting colder as it grew darker and she shivered. She glanced back over at Ken's side of the room. She assumed he had been living here, there was a makeshift bed, some clothes. From what she gathered over the day it could be some old, unused, run-down apartment. Sighing again she attracted his attention. He got up and walked slowly over, hiding something in one hand behind him.

He ran a rough hand over her cheek, mimicking his action the previous night.

She looked at him, fear filling her eyes, wishing that she could stop him. He leant down and kissed her roughly, he pulled away after a few moments leaving Samantha wanting to wash her mouth out or knee him in the balls. Seeing as she couldn't do either she settled for spitting on the floor.

He snarled at her, his eyes flashing dark with anger for a second. Then a look of calm confidence came over him and he kissed her again, this time running his hand down her side.

"There's nothing you can do to stop me Sammy." he whispered in her ear. She shuddered knowing it was true.

"Sweet dreams." he finished, taking out the cloth that was hidden in his other hand and clamping it over her nose and mouth.

So Samantha Spade submitted to the darkness once again.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Here you go and please review!

It had now been over a day since Samantha had been taken. Jack had sent the team home late the previous night, (or extremely early in the morning) saying that them being overtired would not help them find Sam any quicker. Danny had refused to go back to his apartment, not wanting to be there as it was full of reminders of Sam, had crashed at Martin's place. After a restless few hours they were all back in the office, red eyed, exhausted and close to despair.

"We've got to be missing something!" said Martin frustrated, looking over the papers on his desk for what must have been the millionth time.

They had a map with the places he had kept his other victims in, but there was no patterns there. They still hadn't found out where he had been staying, or if anyone had seen his car or anything that would lead them to Sam. They had run several checks on his credit card, but apart from taking out a few hundred dollars a few days before there had been nothing else. They had also been checking his cell phone records, he hadn't contacted anyone since he had taken Samantha, so they guessed he was working alone. They had all been shocked by the amount of calls that Sam had recieved from him, sometimes 4 plus in the space of 3 hours. She had never said anything about it being that many.

Danny slumped at his desk, his small amount of sleep had been filled with horrible nightmares of the worst possible scenarios, nothing he wanted to ever ever see. He gazed sadly at the picture of Sam on the missing board, she looked so happy, so safe. Alive.

He gritted his teeth and prayed that they would find her today. Rubbing his tired eyes he glanced at the others, all immersed in the different files, papers and old records, searching for something they had missed. He sighed, they all looked like he felt. Like shit basically. Martin and Jack looked surprisingly scruffy, like him. Vivian's usual calm, collected exterior was gone, replaced with concern, anxiety and most of all fear. The same fear that was reflected in all of their eyes. Fear for their friend, they had know way of knowing how she was, if she was still..... He couldn't bring himself to think it. He wouldn't let himself think it.

30 hours missing.

Samantha had been awake for several hours now, so had Ken unfortunately (he had decided that beating up Sam was the best way to wake himself up.) She drew in harsh, wheezy breathes, feeling her broken, bruised ribs protest at every movement. She could taste the blood in her mouth, feel it trickle down her face. The bruises hurt so much, she couldn't escape the pain, every part of her ached. She was surprised she was even still conscious. She sat there weakly in the chair, barely supporting her own weight. Her head occasionally falling forward, unable to keep itself up. Ken sat a couple of meters in front of her, just watching her struggle to stay awake, smiling to himself. Sam, through heavily lidded eyes, watched him closely for a sign of what he was planning to do next. He just stared at her, she trembled slightly feeling vunerable, wanting to hide herself from his roving gaze. Laughing to himself he retrieved a small kitchen knife from the table, intent on causing more pain.

Sam watched him approach, the metal glinting in the light. She swallowed hard, and prayed (not for the first time since she had been taken), that it would be the end, that the pain would stop. She wished that she had the strength to do something, but truth was she barely had the strength to keep thinking positively.

Ken waited until Samantha had passed out again, then cleaned the blood off his hands and left her alone in the run down apartment.

The others had all gathered around the conference table, they sat completely at a loss. They had nothing, but they couldn't let themselves give up.

They had now all seen the pictures in the old case files, and were all fearing the worse for Samantha. Martin sighed, and glanced at the others. They all looked terrible, Sam's kidnapping hit them all hard. Danny looked the worst, unsurprisingly. He hadn't been himself, Martin knew he would keep blaming himself until Sam was back. Jack seemed to bottle up all this feelings, but you could tell that it was tearing him apart. And Vivian, Martin had never known that Sam and Viv were that close and they hadn't been until recently, but she seemed to have a look of sadness and weariness etched on her face since Sam went.

Vivian and Jack had gone back to Danny's apartment and Sam's, but nothing had was missing or anything. They had both been hoping for another note, or a clue that would help them to find Sam, however they found nothing.

Suddenly the phone rang, Danny being nearest picked it up. "FBI missing persons." he said.

"Who is this?" said the person on the other end.

"Agent Taylor, who am I speaking to?"

The man chuckled. "Oh I think you know."

Danny felt a shiver down his spine, vaguely recognising the voice that had whispered in his ear. "Ken Jones."

At those words the others arround him snapped to attention, Jack immediately setting up a trace on the call.

"Got it in one."

"Where's Sam?" asked Danny feeling anger rising in him.

"Do you really think I'm going to tell you? Thought you lot were supposed to be smart." he sneered. "I just wanted to say that your time is running out." His thoughts going to the blonde woman who he was holding hostage, who was weakening every minute.

The line went dead, Danny put the receiver down turning his worried face to the others. "We have to find her."

"What did he say?" asked Martin.

"He said that our time is running out."

"You get a location?" Danny asked Jack, who was hovering over the computer with Vivian.

"That call came from a payphone....just outside this building." Jack looked at the others in shock, for a few minutes at least he had been right under their noses.

"Damnit." swore Danny. "This whole thing is just a fucking game to him." The others looked at him shocked, Danny never swore. But then again, they all felt like swearing about this situation.

"We've got to get out there, see if anyone saw him. See if they can figure out where he was going or anything." said Vivian. She grabbed a couple of copies of the photo they had of him from the last case, and headed out to the street below followed by the others.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: please review!!

I'll continue this story so it covers at least some of Sam's recovery too.

36 hours missing.

Samantha groaned when she woke up again, wanting to stay asleep until the pain was gone. Her eyes filled with tears when she realised that she was getting weaker, and she was finding it harder to stay conscious. He hadn't seemed to want to kill her yet, he had given her some juice- trying to keep her from fainting from blood loss. However the only reason he seemed to want her conscious was that he enjoyed her cries of pain, as he had told her many times.

Ken approached her from where he had been standing waiting for her to wake up. He knelt down in front of her, holding the knife again. She watched him in fear. But he reached down and cut the rope that was tying her legs to the chair. She looked at him with cautious surprise, wondering what he was playing at. He also cut the rope that was tying her arms to the chair. Samantha was filled with hope, and gazed at him questioningly. He chuckled, and her sense of hope collapsed. He managed to get her onto the floor, and half dragged, half carried (her knee had been dislocated from where he had hit her with the piece of piping or so she guessed) her to the other side of the room. He leant her against the wall, tying her hands to a pipe on the wall. She sighed, she had foolishly thought that he would let her go.

"I talked to your friend Agent Taylor." he said suddenly, breaking the silence. "I may have to leave them a clue to where you are, they aren't so good are they?"

"We managed to find you the first time." she croaked, her throat dry. "Why do you want them to find me so badly, it means you getting caught."

"You didn't catch me the first time." he mocked. "And I don't want to miss their faces when they find you and realise that they are too late to save you."

Samantha felt like someone had just poured ice over her, she had known that he wanted to kill her but he hadn't mentioned it until now and to hear him say it like that.....it sent a chill over her. Please find me, she prayed again. She didn't want to die.

45 hours missing.

It had been almost 2 days now, and the team were working late into the night. The phone call putting into perspective how much they had to find her before it was too late. Hardly any of the people on the street had noticed him, the hotdog vendor had. He had said that when he was on the phone he had been staring up at the FBI building the whole time. But he hadn't noticed where he'd gone after making the phone call. There wasn't really much they could do except hope that he would ring again.

54 hours missing.

Samantha cried out in pain as she felt Ken's foot come in contact with her painful ribs. He smirked, he sat down next to her looking into her bruised and bloody face. Not saying anything, just staring at her intensely. She shuddered, she had a bad feeling about this day?....or whenever it was. She had completely lost track of time, she couldn't even begin to figure out how long she had been here, it just felt like one long never ending (incredibly painful) day. He pulled out his penknife and flicked it open, Samantha's eyes following the knife in fear.

She let out a scream as she felt the knife cutting into her. He slashed her side, knowing what to do so it wouldn't cause her to bleed out but it would cause plenty of pain. He smiled maliciously.

Kissing her on the cheek he said "I'll be back soon."

56 hours missing.

A couple hours later at the office, the team were running the phone and credit checks on Ken Jones again, hoping that they could find something.

"Hey guys." called Martin excitedly. "He used his credit card just....about an hour ago. Just finding the particulars." Then he paled, not just slightly but from normal to white as snow in about 2 seconds. "He bought a gun."

Martin's simple statement sent a wave of fear and panic through the others.

"Martin, you and I will go see the store. Viv and Danny hold tight." Jack and Martin rushed off quickly.

Left in the office Vivian and Danny exchanged tense looks. Danny sighed.

"Do you think we're too late?" he asked softly.

Vivian looked at him sharply, "Don't think that Danny. We can't be."

Danny's eyes filled with tears, "What if we are Vivian? It's just like her dream. We can't ignore that we might be..."

"We have to still have hope that we'll find her in time." Vivian said, squeezing Danny's shoulder comfortingly. She kept a brave face on for him, but inside she couldn't help wondering if they were too late. God, she hoped not.

About 20 minutes later the phone rang, and Danny answered hoping it would be Jack with something positive to report.

"Agent Taylor." he said.

"Number 16, 56th and Jersey." Then there was a click as the person hung up.

He quickly wrote down what he had said, recognising the voice as Ken Jones.

"Viv, we got it." said Danny. "Call Jack, we need to get a team over to this address." He waved the piece of paper at Vivian. Danny smiled hopefully for the first time in a long while.

"You sure it was him?"

Danny nodded.

"You know this is probably some kind of trap or something?" she asked.

Danny nodded. "But this is all we have to help us get Sam we have to."

Vivian sighed. "I'll call Jack."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: Here you go, hope you like! Please review.

58 hours missing.

Ken Jones looked admiringly at his newly purchased gun. Samantha lay on the floor, hardly registering what was going on around her. Ken heard the noise of several cars coming to a stop outside, and looked out of the small window.

"Shit. I didn't know they'd get here so soon." he swore angrily. Going over to the fire escape in one of the other rooms he carefully opened it, judging his escape route. He left the door open and walk ed back to Samantha and knelt on the floor. He slapped her, trying to get her to focus on him.

"Hey." he said grabbing her face so her eyes were level with his. "Looks like they found you."

Samantha's eyes widened slightly, his words penetrating the fog in her head.

He got up and walked towards the door, pausing he turned round "I did have other plans, but I guess this will do...." He smoothly pulled out the gun, aimed it at Samantha and pulled the trigger. Samantha screamed as she felt the bullet tear through her shoulder.

On the ground floor of the derelict 3 storey apartment building, Danny and the others stopped still as they heard the gunshot. Swallowing hard, Danny pushed himself faster up the stairs, praying that they would be in time.

Ken made it out and down the fire escape not knowing that Jack had ordered the other agents to secure the whole building.

"You, drop the gun!" called one of the Agents whe was on the ground, looking up a few floors at the figure of Ken on the stairs.

Ken looked down in shock to see several agents with their guns trained on him. Taking his chances he fired a few shots, then carried on running down as they ducked the shots.

"I said, drop the gun!" one yelled again. Ken stopped and aimed his gun at him, before he could pull the trigger he was hit by one of the other agents. Dropping his gun, he toppled off the stairs and fell onto the ground, where he lay still. He was immediatly surrounded.

The team rushed up to the third floor of the building, where they had heard the shot from. There were four doors, one led to the apartment that held their friend and colleague.

Vivian, Danny, Martin and Jack each opened the door of one of the apartments.

Jack looked inside, not seeing anything he ventured further in. He saw some clothes, and half eaten containers of Chinese take-out. Knowing instinctively that this was the room he called the others in even before he saw the blonde hair, the blood and her still figure lying on the floor.

Danny came as soon as Jack called, and pushed past him rushing over to Sam. He recoiled in horror as he saw the massive amount of blood on the floor, the bullet hole in her shoulder and the other cuts and bruises.

"We need to get her to hospital." his voice cracked. He checked for a pulse, and found a very faint, very weak one. "There's a pulse." he added.

"Thank God." breathed Vivian.

Jack knelt by her head and untied the ropes holding her hands there, her arms then fell limply by her side.

Martin looked in shock, not having expected a sight like this...she looked so-- broken. Her face was marbled with bruises of black and blue. There was blood streaked across her face, and staining the light blue of her shirt on her stomach. Not to mention the blood that was still flowing fast out of the wound in her shoulder.

He felt his stomach churn, and turned away looking at Vivian. She was gazing transfixed at Sam, a tear rolling down her face.

Danny carefully scooped her up trying not to cause any more harm to her already horrific injuries, carrying her down to the waiting ambulance. Her body laying limp and still in his arms.

The others followed him, somberly. Jack taking a moment and looked at the pool of blood on the floor. He thanked God that they hadn't been any later.

Danny laid her carefully on the stretcher, the paramedics taking over doing what they could to make sure she got to the hospital okay.

"I'm going over to the hospital." said Danny.

"I'll come with you." said Martin.

"We just need to sort out a few things here." said Vivian, looking after Jack who had gone to see the other agents about Ken.

Danny made it over to the car, but stumbled against the side vomiting into the gutter. Feeling his hands shaking he looked at them and started in shock, not realising until now that they were covered in Samantha's blood.

"I'm driving." said Martin, taking the keys off Danny. Danny got into the passenger side without protest. Martin handed Danny a tissue and he frantically tried to get the blood off his hands.

"You can clean up when we get to the hospital." said Martin, driving off after the ambulance.

"I gotta get this off." said Danny once they reached the hospital, still trying to get the blood off.

"Go to the restrooms and wash it off, I'll find out about Sam." ordered Martin, gently pushing Danny towards the bathrooms.

Danny ran his hands under the taps, squirting lots of soap on them. He rubbed them together frenziedly, scrubbing...anything to get rid of his best friends blood that was staining his hands.

Tears came to his eyes as he saw her broken body lying still on the ground flash through his mind. He took a deep breath, trying to regain himself. Focusing on the good things, like at least she was alive. That was about the only good point.

Sighing he left the bathrooms, heading over to where he saw Martin waiting.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"She's in surgery, the nurse said she'll probably be a while longer but there's a waiting room on the third floor."

"Okay." said Danny. As they walked through the corridors to the elevators he shivered. Man, he hated hospitals.

Danny and Martin sat anxiously in the hard chairs in the waiting room. Praying for some good news from the doctor soon.

"She'll be fine, you know." said Martin looking at Danny's worried expression.

Danny looked incredulously at Martin, "Even if she recovers from the injuries, she'll have to deal with the memories, and the psychological side. She may never truly recover Martin."

Martin sighed. "We have to make sure that she does." he decided. He couldn't imagine the thought of Samantha not being Samantha.

Danny leant back in the chair and closed his eyes, so glad that they had found her, the waiting and wondering from the past 2 and a bit days was finally over...in a way. They had found her now they just had to wait to see if she was alright.

"What happened to Ken Jones?" he asked suddenly, they had left as soon as Sam was in the ambulance and he had been too concerned about her to think about Jones.

Martin shrugged, not having noticed either. "Guess we'll have to wait until Jack and Viv get here."

Now it was Danny's turn to sigh, he glanced at his watch impatiently wondering when they would get here before submitting to his thoughts.

About 20 minutes later Vivian and Jack rushed over to them.

"Anything?" asked Vivian urgently.

The other 2 shook their heads sadly.

Vivian sighed, "Did they say anything?"

"The nurse said that she was in surgery and that she'd probably be there for a while. That was just over 20 minutes ago I guess...well that's how long we've been sitting here." Martin answered.

Vivian Jack exchanged concerned glances, "She's been in there a while." said Jack.

"What happened with Ken Jones?" asked Danny.

"He's dead." said Jack flatly.

"What happened?" asked Danny surprised, raising an eyebrow.

"They found him trying to climb down the fire escape. He fired at the agents who were on the ground, so they fired back in self defence and shot and killed him."

"Well that will give Sam some peace I guess." said Danny.

"Yeah." said Vivian smiling sadly.

She and Jack sat down and joined the others in waiting for news about their friend.

They had been waiting for what seemed like an eternity, but in truth it was just another hour and a half. Which was still an extremely long time, and they had just sat there growing more and more scared and worried when finally one of the surgeons came out. His whole posture and his face was weary. They looked at him solemnly, deep down each expecting the worst.

"You here for Samantha Spade?" he asked.

They nodded. "How is she?" asked Danny, his heart beating rapidly.

The surgeon sighed, and glanced between all of her friends.


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: Well here's the next chapter.

"Well..." he began. "She sustained some very severe injuries. Her knee was dislocated, and she had major bruising all over, particularly bad on her face and ribs, which several of were broken. She also suffered quite severe head trauma from the beatings. She lost a lot of blood, especially from the gunshot wound to her shoulder, that's partly why surgery took so long...it was hard to stop the bleeding. She flatlined twice on the table, we managed to get her back...but I'm afraid to say that she is in a coma."

The team looked devastated, they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

Danny swallowed and looked at the surgeon hopefully. "She will wake up soon though right?"

"It looks positive, but I'm not her doctor so I'm not certain. The doctor is with Miss. Spade at the moment, but she will be in to see you soon."

"Thanks." said Vivian smiling gratefully.

The surgeon smiled at the team and left the waiting room. He glanced back, hoping for their sakes that their friend would recover- he could see the obvious friendship and caring they had for each other.

Danny sank back down in the chair, he sighed sadly his eyes filling with tears. All his hopes and wishes that Sam would have been fine were lost. He knew it was a long shot after seeing her injuries but he had still wished that it was true. He would give anything for Samantha to be alright.

Vivian came and sat down next to him putting an arm round his shoulder.

He looked at her, unable to hide the pain and worry. She sighed. "She's a fighter Danny, she won't give up- not while we're all here for her."

"I hope you're right Viv." he replied flatly, his voice lacking the light-hearted manner that was usually present...it hadn't been there for days now.

He looked up and saw the distraught faces of the others, Jack and Martin staring into space, and Vivian staring at her hands, anxiously twisting her wedding ring around.

He wished with all his heart that Sam would wake up, help get rid of the looks on all their faces. Come on Sam, he pleaded as if talking to her. You wouldn't leave us. Please. His thoughts were interrupted by a woman coming in through the door. Danny leapt to his feet, hoping for some news. She smiled, "Are you the FBI agents?" she asked.

Danny and the others nodded.

"I'm Samantha's doctor."

"Is she awake yet? Can we see her?" Danny rattled off.

"As the surgeon told you, she is in a coma." she sighed. "Because of the seriousness of her injuries, we don't know when she will wake up- we have her under constant observation."

"She will wake up though?" asked Vivian frowning.

"She's in a critical state but we're hopeful that she will wake up."

Jack glanced at Martin, that didn't sound good.

"What would you say is the percentage of recovery?" Jack said eventually. Internally he cringed, but he wanted to know the truth.

"Honestly, it's about a 30-40 chance."

Danny's heart fell and he looked at the others in shock. Martin sighed, and felt his eyes fill with tears as he sank back down into the chair.

"One of you can see her quickly if you want?" offered the doctor. "She's in room 8, just down the hall."

Jack, Martin and Vivian all looked at Danny and he smiled gratefully before rushing out of the room.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Sorry to keep you all waiting, been real busy with work and stuff.

Hope you like!

Pausing outside the closed door for a moment, he took a deep breath preparing himself, then he pushed the door open and cautiously went in.

Samantha was lying still on the hospital bed, an oxygen mask on to help her breathe, and IV drip in her arm and various other things, hooking her up to various other machines. Her shoulder had a large dressing on it, there was a large cast over her left knee, and her face was covered in bruises of different colours. Danny cringed not even wanting to think about how much pain she must have been in.

"Hey sweetie." he whispered going nearer to her. She looked so pale and fragile...she had a childlike innocence something almost vulnerable about her, not something he was used to seeing. He had known her for over 6 years now, and a vulnerable Samantha Spade wasn't something he often saw. He sat down in a chair next to her bed, and looked at her sadly.

"You gotta wake up Sam. If you don't who's going to laugh at my jokes, that no one else seems to get. Please Sam, I don't know what I'd do without you." Suddenly sobs that had been building up for days overcame him and he sat there, his head in his hands sobbing. He waited for a few minutes until he composed himself. He stood, promised Sam that he would come back and went back to the others.

The others glanced up when he came back in, all noticing his redder eyes and tear stained face but chose not to comment on it.

"How does she look?" asked Martin softly.

Danny sighed, "Not good guys. I mean they've even got her an oxygen mask and everything. She's just lying there completely still."

Jack stood up, "I should head back to the office and inform Van Doren." he said regretfully.

"I'm staying, so I'll call if there are any changes." said Danny.

Martin and Viv exchanged glances. "Martin why don't you stay for a while, I've got to get a few things at the office then I'll come back." said Vivian.

"Okay." replied Martin, hoping Danny wouldn't mind the company.

He said goodbye to Jack and Viv, then glanced over at Danny who seemed to be in his own little world. Out of all of them Danny had been most distressed by Sam's kidnapping, Martin thought it was partly because he blamed himself and the fact that he had known Sam for so long.

"God, you should have seen her." Danny whispered after a pause. "She looks...broken. I just can't see how she'll be alright."

Martin sighed, he wanted to say that she'd be fine, that she'd wake up, recover and everything would get back to normal. But he couldn't, because he didn't know if it was true. He didn't know if Samantha would wake up, he wanted her to..he just didn't know. He could lie in hope of making Danny feel better, but Danny would never believe him anyway.

He paused choosing his words carefully, "We just have to have hope that she will wake up. And when she does, we'll have to do all we can do to help her get through this. We just have to be there for her, let her know that she's not alone."

Danny smiled sadly. "Yeah." he said. "You know, it's only a little over a week until Christmas."

It was the 14th of December Christmas lights were up everywhere, everyone getting ready for the holidays.

"Sam loves how it looks this time of year." Danny added. "You know, with all the lights especially when it snows. It's funny, she doesn't actually like Christmas that much- but she loves the way it looks."

Martin smiled, "We'll all have to go and see the big tree in Times Square."

Danny nodded.

"Ummm, will her family want to know she's in hospital?" asked Martin after a pause.

Danny looked at him, a flash of anger in his eyes. "I doubt it. I called her mom after she got shot...she couldn't even be bothered to come and see her. Don't think she even called to see if she was alright."

Martin winced. "That's harsh. What happened between them?" he asked puzzled.

Danny sighed, "Sam doesn't really like talking about her past."

"Please Danny, I'm her friend too."

Danny looked at Martin and saw the sincerity in his face, and the genuine care for his friend.

"Well you know Sam and I have known each other for years now."

Martin nodded.

"Well I didn't have the greatest childhood either, and I guess some how that made me connect with Sam. We just found it so easy to talk to each other, one day we basically swapped life stories and then vowed to not let our past get to us and try and move on." Danny paused. "We don't really talk about it, it's something we'd rather put past us. That's why Sam doesn't talk about her family. Okay, her dad left her, her mom and her sister when she was little. She was 6 I think. Her sister is just over a year older. Her mom and dad didn't want any more children, Sam said she was an accident. She said her mom never really took much interest in her- her sister was the favorite, but they kind of grew apart once they hit their teens. She admitted she wasn't the nicest teenager to have around, she just didn't like having to live in her sisters shadow. She tried to run away when she was about 16, but her mom found her. Sam never told me what she said, but she made her come home. After that she decided she was going to work in law enforcement, so she got her grades up graduated and eventually went to Quantico. Her mom didn't agree with her going towards this career...so she pretty much said if she did this...then she was basically out of the family."

Martin looked at Danny shocked. "How could someone say that to their own kid?"

Danny shrugged. "Well that's the overall story...I can't tell you all the details, Sam may one day."

"So you're the only one who knows about that?" asked Martin.

Danny nodded. "Yup."

Martin sighed. "God, poor Sam." Martin couldn't believe what he had heard, he had known that she didn't have it easy growing up but that...he felt so sorry for her.

They sat in silence for about an hour, neither really in the mood to talk. Just waiting anxiously, praying for some news soon. They occasionally saw doctors walking past them, and would look at them apprehensively in case they had some news, but they all just walked past.

Vivian came back and joined them just after the hour, explaining that Jack was still in a meeting with Van Doren, telling her what had happened and arranging leave for Samantha. She also added that Jack wanted their reports as soon as possible.

Martin sighed. "I'll head over to the office to do mine now, call me if there's anything."

Vivian nodded. "Of course."

"See you guys." He patted Danny's shoulder before walking down the corridor.

Danny looked at Vivian imploringly, "Do you think Jack will mind if I hand mine in tomorrow? I want to be here in case she wakes up or anything."

Vivian smiled, she had known that Danny would want to stay there. "He won't mind."

Danny smiled gratefully.

"Have you heard anything else?"

Danny shook his head, "They haven't even said we can go back in there, I don't think they want people disturbing all the medical equipment. I should be in there with her, do you think I should find the doctor and ask?" he asked starting to get up.

Vivian put a gentle hand on his arm, "They will tell us Danny, I think it would be better just to wait."

Danny sighed leaning his head back against the wall, letting his eyes fall shut. It had been a long and restless few days.

He was woken some time later by Vivian nudging him, he opened his eyes and saw Sam's doctor standing in front of them. He was immediately wide awake.

"What's happened?" he asked.

The doctor smiled. "She's slightly more stable than she was earlier, her blood pressure is almost back to normal. However, she's still unconscious."

"Is that a good sign, her blood pressure lowering?" asked Vivian.

She nodded, "Yes it is, as I said it's not quite the usual...but it's better than it was."

Danny sighed in relief. "Can we sit with her now?"

The doctor nodded, "Just be careful, she's not out of the woods yet. Don't hesitate to call us if you feel like you should."

"Thanks." said Vivian, and followed Danny down the hallway.


	18. Chapter 18

A/N: Enjoy people! Don't forget to read and review.

Disclaimer: Sorry, tis not mine.

She looked at Samantha shocked when she got in the room, she still looked so pale. Well at least the blood was gone. She winced in sympathy, noting the extensive bruising and the bandages and stitches all over her friend.

Danny straight away positioned himself in a chair next to her bed, avoiding all the equipment. Vivian took the chair on the other side, looking sadly at her co-worker. She glanced at Danny who was intently gazing at her face, as if willing her to wake up.

"She will wake up." said Vivian, staying positive.

Danny kept his eyes fixed on Sam's face, "Yeah she will." He glanced up at Vivian for a second, and gave her a small smile. "She'll be fine for Christmas."

I hope so, thought Vivian to herself. Sam had been through a lot- getting shot, dealing with that and everything else that had been going on. She didn't deserve this. She shouldn't be lying here unconscious in a hospital bed. She should be awake and enjoying herself, out with friends or something.

"What are you planning for Christmas?" she asked Danny.

"We had planned to cook at Sam's place this year, you know just relax."

"Sounds nice." replied Vivian, she had known of their tradition for a few years now, and while she thought that it was sweet and good that they had each other, she couldn't help feeling sad that they didn't have any family to spend it with. Although Danny does have his brother, she didn't think Sam had family that she would celebrate with.

Danny sighed, and glanced round at all the medical equipment surrounding and attached to Samantha. In less than a year this was the second time he had spent by her hospital bed, and he knew that this would be harder for her to deal with. With this job they all knew that ending up in hospital was a risk they had to face, but it was never easy to accept when it did happen.

They sat there until about 6 when Martin and Jack came rushing back in, anxious for some news.

"Anything?" asked Jack, once he had got over his initial shock at seeing Samantha like that.

Vivian shook her head, "The doctor has come in a few times, just to check- but there's been no change."

Danny glanced at Martin, who was gazing at Samantha. He had a slight frown on his face, and a sad look in his eyes. Danny smiled comfortingly at him, catching his eye. "She'll be okay." he added.

"I know." replied Martin.

Jack cleared his throat, "I have to get home to Marie and the kids, but you'll let me know anything?"

"Of course." said Vivian.

Danny looked at her, "You should go home too Viv. What about Reggie?"

She sighed and looked at her watch. "I guess so. You'll call?"

Danny nodded.

"I'm going to need your report soon." said Jack, looking at Danny sympathetically. He knew that Danny was taking this the hardest.

Danny sighed, "I know, I'll do it tomorrow."

"Okay." replied Jack. "Night."

"Night guys." said Vivian, "Try and get some rest."

"Night." said Martin, Danny adding his goodnights.

"God, I wish there was something we could do." said Danny a few moments after they had left. "You just feel so...helpless, not being able to do anything."

Martin nodded in agreement. "We'll be able to help her when she wakes up though."

"I suppose." said Danny.

The two of them lapsed into silence, not really having anything else to say. About 45 minutes later the doctor came back in."

"You're still here?" she said surprised as she checked Samantha's vitals.

"She okay?" asked Danny.

"She's not changed." replied the doctor.

"Is that good or bad?" asked Martin.

"Well her condition hasn't improved since before, but it hasn't deteriorated either- so it's good."

Danny looked at the doctor. "Do you know how long she'll be like this?"

"It's hard to say." she replied. "Every case is different, considering what Samantha has been through I would say at least a few days."

"Okay." said Danny dejectedly.

"You two should go home for the night."

"But what if she wakes up?" objected Danny.

"Someone should be here." added Martin.

"There will be someone checking on her all night, and I can contact one of you the second anything happens."

"But..."

"It would be best, Samantha still has a lot of recovery to get through- she's still in a critical state. Plus you both look like you could do with the rest."

Danny and Martin glanced at each other, she was right- they hadn't slept properly in a while.

After a few more minutes of persuading, they decided to go home and get some rest, first Danny made the doctor promise to call if anything at all changed.


	19. Chapter 19

Danny lay in bed gazing at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep, he kept thinking about Sam, and not wanting her to wake up alone. He sighed, rolling over on his bed. This was the first time he had slept there since Sam had been kidnapped, he had been staying at Danny's. Even though he knew that Ken was dead and couldn't do anything, he had had the locks on his place and Samantha's changed. It made him feel safer.

He had to get his report done, then hopefully (if Jack would let him and there were no cases) he'd go back to sit with Samantha. He hoped she would wake up soon.

He shut his eyes, and tried to will sleep to come.

Danny got into the office early the next day, wanting to finish his paperwork and everything as soon as possible.

He was already at his desk when Vivian came in.

"Morning." she said.

"Hey." he replied.

"You heard anything?"

Danny shook his head, knowing instinctively she was referring to Samantha. "I'm going to finish this then head over there."

Vivian nodded. "I might come too."

"Okay." replied Danny.

"Did you get much sleep?" asked Vivian.

Danny sighed, "No, not much. Couldn't sleep...just kept thinking about Sam."

Vivian smiled comfortingly. "She'll be fine."

Danny was still working on the report when Jack and Martin got in, around 15 minutes later. Each of them asking about Samantha. There had been no cases so far, so as soon as Danny finished him and Vivian left to see Samantha.

When they got to the hospital, Danny immediately rushed into Samantha's room, while Vivian went to talk to the doctor.

The doctor smiled as she saw Vivian approach.

"Has there been any change?"

The doctor sighed and shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately no."

"What does that mean?" asked Vivian anxiously.

"Her body doesn't seem to be healing itself as well as it should be. There's nothing really to worry about yet, it has only been a day. But if she doesn't start improving soon...then there may be some problems."

"But she will be alright?"

"If she wakes up soon, then yes. If not...I'm afraid that a number of complications could arise. We're running some tests, to find out why there has been no change. We found she recieved several blows to the head, so we have to set her up for a scan later today."

"So there could be brain damage?" Her eyes widening, and a worried tone in her voice.

"It's possible, but unlikely. It's most likely that the beatings caused some swelling, which is limiting some of the brains usual functions. But once the swelling subsides then it will be fine."

"Okay, thank you. Oh, when's her scan?" said Vivian.

"Samantha's scan is scheduled for 12 this afternoon, so we have to get her ready at around 11.30."

"Thanks." said Vivian, she smiled at the doctor and went into Samantha's room. Danny was already seated by her bed. "What did the doctor say?" he asked.

Vivian sighed, attracting Danny's attention. He looked up at her anxiously.

She took the seat on the other side of the bed opposite Danny.

"She said that there has been no change, which is a bad sign and that if she doesn't wake up soon then it means that there are some problems. She's put Sam in for a brain scan later, to see if there's any brain damage."

Danny looked at Vivian in shock. "I didn't know it was that bad. Brain damage? God."

"She doesn't think it is brain damage though, she said that it may just be swelling from the beatings limiting the brain function, and that's why she hasn't woken up. But they have to do a scan, just as a precaution I guess."

Danny nodded. "When's the scan?"

"A few hours, at 11:30."

"Okay." replied Danny. He sighed looking at Samantha's pale face.

Vivian left after a while, going to call Jack and Martin to let them know the latest developments and to get some coffee.

Danny sighed again, wondering if he should call Samantha's mom, considering what happened after Sam was shot, he didn't think she would come.

Vivian came back a few minutes later, holding two cups of coffee. "I called Jack and Martin and told them what was going on. They're going to come in later- after the scan. Van Doren's got them doing some paper work."

Danny nodded gratefully taking the coffee Vivian offered to him. "I was wondering if I should call her mom." he said after a pause.

Vivian looked at him curiously. Sam had never mentioned her family to her. "If you think you should...you've known Sam longer. I guess you're the best judge."

"When Sam got shot, I called her...but she didn't visit, honestly, she didn't seem to care."

Vivian nodded, she had wondered where Samantha's family was when she had visited Sam in hospital. But she hadn't wanted to ask.

"I'll just wait and see how she is." he decided.

After a few hours a nurse came in to get Samantha ready for the scan. The doctor told them that they wouldn't get the results for a while, the scans had to be taken and then the doctor had to go over them. So Vivian and Danny decided to go back to the office, and come back later with Jack and Martin. Once they had the results from the scan.

Jack looked at Danny in concern once him and Vivian got back to the office. He sighed, Danny had black circles under his eyes and all together looked exhausted. The past few days had been hell for everyone, especially him.

"Hey Danny, can I talk to you for a minute, in the office?" said Jack.

Danny nodded, following Jack into the office.

"How you holding up?" Jack asked gesturing for Danny to take a seat.

Danny shrugged. "I'm okay."

"You know it's not your fault." said Jack firmly.

"I should have done more." Danny frowned. "There had to be something."

"Danny. You did everything you could- that guy was a psycho."

Danny smiled sadly. "I hope she wakes up soon."

"She will. She's strong, and a fighter- she will wake up soon."

"Yeah." said Danny. He sighed, "I'm going to get back to my desk."

Jack nodded, his gaze following Danny's slumped posture. Sam had to wake up.

About an hour later the hospital rang, Danny answered the phone. After talking to the doctor for a few minutes, he turned to the others who had gathered around him.

"She said they got the results back, and that we can go down there now."

"Did they tell you anything?" asked Martin.

Dany shook his head. "No." he replied anxiously. "She said she'd show us when we got here."

Vivian and Jack exchanged nervous glances. "Well let's get going." said Vivian.


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: Don't own it.

Enjoy.

Once they arrived at the hospital they made their way to Samantha's room, keeping a eye out for her doctor. They saw her just coming out of Samantha's room, and rushed over to her.

Danny greeted her anxiously. "What did you find?" he then asked.

"We can talk in my room it's just down here." she replied leading them down the hallway.

She ushered them inside a room, that had a large board with several scans stuck up on it.

"Samantha had her scan earlier." she began walking over to the board. "The good news is that there are no signs of brain damage. But there is still some swelling." she pointed at a large white area on the of the scans.

"This area here, seems to be pressing on her brain- which is why she hasn't woken up yet. Now we found out what it was, we were able to use some medication- which should reduce the swelling. So hopefully she should wake up within the next 48 hours."

"Then she'll be alright?" asked Vivian.

The doctor nodded. "She should be, she'll still have some healing to do though. She'll need some physiotherapy for her knee, but apart from that- physically she will be fine."

Danny breathed a sigh of relief. "Can I go see her?"

The doctor nodded. "Of course." Danny left the room, followed by Martin leaving Vivian and Jack with the doctor.

"So she will definately be alright?" asked Jack again wanting to make sure.

"Physically, yes. Mentally she will have to deal with what happened, and I don't know how long that will take, it's different for everyone."

"Okay." Vivian nodded. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Well, it's important that you let her know you are there for her, but without crowding her. We have counsellors available, if she decides to see one. Some people don't and deal with it themselves, but I guess you can be a judge of that."

"Alright." said Jack. He smiled at the doctor. "Thanks for everything."

She smiled. "It's fine."

Danny was in his usual position by Samantha's bed with Martin sitting across from him.

"So thats good news, from Sam's scan." said Martin.

Danny nodded. "Yeah it is. Hopefully she'll wake up soon."

Martin glanced at Danny seeing the worry lines that had been a permanent fixture on his face for the past few days.

"You know it wasn't your fault." he said.

Danny sighed. "That's what everyone has been saying."

"Well then you must know we're right."

"Yeah, I know. I just wish...I wish it hadn't happened."

"We all wish that." Martin smiled sadly, looking down at Samantha.

"Hey Sam." whispered Danny as he came in quietly the next morning. He would usually try and see Sam before he went to work every morning, he spent most of his free time in there. Willing her to wake up. He sighed, settling himself down in the chair. He was flicking through the paper when he thought he heard a small murmur. His head shot up, and he looked at Samantha. "Sam?" he said hopefully. There was no sign of anything and he sighed, assuming he'd imagined it. He looked back at his paper when he heard it again. He looked at her face, her eyes seemed to be flickering as if she was dreaming.

"Sam?" he asked again. He took hold of her hand, almost crying with happiness when he felt a slight pressure. He quickly pressed the button to call the nurse in.

A few seconds later, the doctor rushed in a worried look on her face. "What happened?" she asked immediately.

"I think she's waking up." replied Danny.

The doctor quickly checked her vitals and nodded. "Samantha? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." was the faint reply. Her eyes were still shut, but her lips were moving. Danny smiled happily.

"Can you open your eyes?" asked the doctor.

Samantha squinted and forced her eyes open, seeing the doctors face and Danny's smile.

"Hey." he said.

"Hi." she replied.

"How do you feel?" asked the doctor.

"It hurts." she managed through gritted teeth.

"I'm going to call the others." said Danny. "They'll be glad to know you're awake."

Samantha nodded.

Danny walked briskly down the hall, eager to get to a phone and tell the others. Picking up the phone he dialled the office.

"Hey Viv." he said when she answered. "I'm at the hospital, Sam's awake."

He listened for a few moments, then he nodded. "Okay. I'll see you soon."

"They're on their way." he said to Samantha walking back in her room.

"Well I'll leave you to it." said the doctor. "I've increased the morphine a little, it will help with the pain, but it may make you a little drowsy. Just call if you need anything."

Danny and Sam nodded. "Thank you." said Sam.

The doctor smiled and left the room. Danny sat down next to Sam's bed and took her hand. "God, I'm so glad you're awake."

A small frown appeared on her face.

"Anything wrong?" asked Danny.

"What actually happened?"

Danny's eyes widened at her question. "You don't remember?" he asked.

"Not really. I remember he came into my room...that's when I recognised who it was. Then...it just goes blank."

Danny sighed.

"So what happened?"

"I think it'd be better if we all tell you when the others get here." he said, stalling for time. "Why don't you rest and wait for the others."

Samantha nodded, too drowsy to try and argue.

God, how do we tell her. Danny wondered to himself, hoping the others would hurry.

He sat there, watching Samantha gently breathing and still holding her hand in his until a small tap at the door alerted him that the others where there. He got up slowly and quietly not wanting to disturb Sam and went out into the hallway where the others were standing anxiously.

"How is she?" asked Martin.

Danny nodded, "Well she's awake, she's in a bit of pain- the doctor increased the morphine."

Vivian sensed something behind his words, "What's wrong?" she asked.

He sighed. "She doesn't remember what happened. She remembers him going into her room, then nothing." He looked at them distraught. "Christ guys, how do we tell her?"

Jack sighed. "I'll talk to the doctor." he said, starting off down the hall, Martin calling after that he would come too.

Vivian looked at Danny. "You okay?"

"I guess. But how the hell do you tell someone that they were raped and kidnapped?"

Vivian shrugged. "Maybe it'll come back."

A few moments later Jack and Martin came back with the doctor.

She smiled at them before turning to Danny. "You said she doesn't remember?"

He nodded. "She asked me what had happened."

The doctor sighed. "It's best if she can remember on her own. I know this doesn't sounds nice, but if you tell her about her injuries, hopefully that will trigger the memory- it sounds like shock treatment but it will be the best way in the long run."

Danny sighed and nodded. "Okay." he said. He was not looking forward to that. Martin, Jack and Vivian exchanged quick glances and decided that it would be best if Vivian went in with Danny to tell Samantha.

"Well lets go tell her." said Vivian, going to the door.

"Hey Viv." said Samantha when they went inside. She had awoken when she had felt Danny leaving.

"Hi. How you feeling?" She smiled, Sam looked better than she had and it was so good to see her awake.

"Better, think the pain killers kicked in." Samantha paused, looking at their slightly worried and concerned faces. "What happened then?" she asked, not sure if she wanted to know.

"We spoke to the doctor, and she said that it's best if you remember yourself." said Danny.

Samantha nodded.

"She also said to tell you..."

"Tell you about your injuries, see if it helps you remember." finished Vivian.

"Okay." she said. "I want to know."

Vivian nodded. "You had several bruises, and some bruised ribs. Your knee was dislocated-"

"So that's why it's in this?" Samantha questioned gesturing to the cast on her leg.

Danny nodded.

"You had quite a lot of blood loss, from...you got shot in the shoulder. And you were unconscious for quite a while because you took several blows to the head."

Samantha frowned, absorbing all the information seeing if it would trigger any memory. She shook her head. "I can't think of anything." she said frustrated.

"It will come back in time." said Vivian calmly.

"He came into my room...and..." She frowned again, her face deep in concentration.

_Flashback_

_She scrambled to get out of bed and grab her gun but he was too quick for her and he smacked her across the face and threw her back on the bed._

_End_

She gasped, "Then I tried to get up and get my gun...then he hit me...I don't remember anything else."

Danny reached over and held her hand, squeezing it gently. "It's okay. We'll help you get through this."

"Thanks." she said smiling at them. "What happened to him?"

Vivian and Danny exchanged glances. "He's dead." replied Vivian.

"Oh." was all Sam said before lasping into silence.

"You want to see the others?" asked Vivian.

"Okay." Samantha replied.

Vivian got up to get them, and followed them back into the room.

"Hi Sam." said Martin.

"Hey." added Jack.

There was an awkward silence for a few moment as no one knew what to say. Danny noticed Samantha struggling to hold back a yawn.

"You want to get some rest?" he asked.

She nodded. "If you don't mind."

"Course not." replied Vivian.

"Thanks." said Samantha.

"I'm glad your okay." said Martin, gently squeezing her hand.

"Get some rest." added Jack.

"I'll come back later." said Danny, kissing her forehead gently.

"Bye." said Vivian, before they all left the room. Danny giving her a small smile.

She smiled back. As soon as the door shut the smile faded, and she sighed. She wanted to remember everything, so she would be able to deal and move on. She let her eyes drift shut and hoped sleep would come easily.

A/N: Hope you're all glad she's awake!


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: Sorry it's taken a while guys! Well hope its worth the wait.

Disclaimer: Still don't own it. Damn.

"Morning Sam." said Danny coming into her room early the next morning. He looked surprised to see her awake already. "Did you get much sleep?"

She shrugged. "A little I guess, I woke up a few hours ago and couldn't get back to sleep."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"Flashes of things." She shuddered, remembering her thoughts from the past night. She remembered seeing his face, and his twisted grin. She couldn't remember much detail, she remembered pain, lots of pain. Danny smiled sadly seeing the flickers of emotions coming over her face.

He sat down next to her, "Anything you want to talk about?"

She shook her head, "It's ok. Better if I try and remember." she sighed. "Do you know when I can leave here?"

Danny grinned inwardly, trust that to be one of the first things Samantha asked, "You'll have to stay a bit longer, you till have some healing to do. The doctor also said you'll need some physiotherapy for your knee. The docotr also suggested counselling or something, maybe go back to Doctor Harris?

"Maybe, she might be able to help me remember I guess." She nodded. "How's everyone else?"

"They're fine, worried about you."

Samantha smiled.

"I'm so glad you're alright." he said smiling sadly. "I don't know what I would have done if..."

Samantha grasped his hand tightly. "It's okay." she said "I'm going to be fine."

"I was so scared." Danny murmured.

"So was I." They shared a small smile, not needing words to convey what they were thinking. They knew how much they meant to each other.

Danny stayed for a while longer, just staying trying to comfort Sam however he could.

"Morning." smiled Vivian when Danny got to the office. Everyone had been a lot happier since Sam woke up. "You seen Samantha this morning?"

Danny nodded.

"How's she doing?" asked Vivian, Martin and Jack looked up interested.

"She's okay. Wanted to know when she could leave."

The others grinned. "Of course." said Martin.

"Has she remembered anymore?" asked Jack.

Danny sighed, "Yeah. She said she remembered flashes of things, but she didn't want to talk about it."

Vivian nodded. "I'll go see her later, but apart from that she was alright?"

Danny shrugged, "Yeah she seemed okay, but you know Sam- she always hides what she's feeling."

"You think she'd hate it if we suggested she goes to see Doctor Harris?" asked Martin.

"I told her that she could." said Danny. "She didn't seem too happy about it, but she said it could help her remember."

"It may not be such a bad idea for her to see the therapist." said Jack. "When she does remember, it's going to be hard for her to deal with."

The others nodded solemnly.

"Right." said Jack after a pause. "Van Doren wanted to see all of us sometime this morning."

"Why?" asked Danny curiously, to him that didn't sound good.

Jack shrugged. "She just wanted to talk to us about what happened I think."

"Okay." Vivian nodded. "She coming here?"

"Yeah." replied Jack.

Martin yawned. "I'm going to grab some coffee before she comes, you guys want some?"

"Sure." replied Danny, both Vivian and Jack declined.

Samantha lay in bed dozing fitfully, she had woken up suddenly after a peaceful hours sleep (helped by an increase in pain medicine) due to a nightmare. She was constantly disturbed by flashes of what had happened, she seemed to be remembering more. Everything that had happened seemed to be locked away in her head, she knew it was there but she couldn't get to it, it was so frustrating. Sighing, she closed her eyese and willed sleep to come. A few minutes later an extremely vivid flash came to her, she could remember exactly what it felt to be in that room. She smelt the smells, heard all the sounds, and felt the blood trickling down her face and the sharp, sudden, immense pain exploding through her shoulder as the bullet cut through her flesh. Her shrill scream sounded through the room and into the corridor, grabbing the attention of several nurses and doctors.

"Taylor." said Danny picking up the ringing phone, they had just finished talking to Van Doren. She had just wanted to see how they were dealing with what had happened, and if they were coping being one agent short.

"Is this Agent Danny Taylor?" said a vaguely familiar female voice.

"Yes. Who is this please?"

"This is Dr. Stevens, Samantha's doctor."

"Is something wrong with Sam?" he asked urgently, attracting the others attention. Vivian looked at him worriedly, praying that nothing else could go wrong.

The doctor sighed. "We think she remembered something, several doctors and nurses heard a scream coming from her room. They went in and called me. She seemed to be dreaming, we managed to wake her up but she wouldn't calm down, so we had to sedate her."

Danny sighed. "She's ok now though?"

"She's still sedated, but it would be best if someone could come down to be with her when she wakes up."

"Of course, I'll leave right away." he said hanging up the phone.

"What happened?" asked Martin.

"The doctor thinks Sam remembered somethings. But they had to sedate her, because she wouldn't calm down, they need someone there when she wakes up."

"Okay." Jack nodded.

"Call when you know anything." added Vivian.

"I will." said Danny before running out the building and jumping into his car.

Martin and Vivian looked at each other concerned. How much more did Samantha have to go through, Vivian wondered.

Danny reached the hospital, and ran up to Samantha's room. He had just reached the door when Sam's doctor came up to him.

"Hey, is she okay?" he asked.

The doctor nodded. "We think so, she hasn't woken up yet though."

"Can I go and sit with her?"

"Of course." the doctor nodded.

"How long do you think it will be before she wakes up?"

The doctor glanced at her watch. "The sedative wasn't very strong, so I should say any minute now."

"Thanks." he said gently pushing open the door, and making his way over to Samantha's bedside. "Hey." he whispered, he looked at her sadly- wondering what had happened, and how much she had remembered. He sighed, settling down on the chair and grabbing the newspaper.

He had been reading for a few moments when he heard a murmuring coming from Samantha.

"Sam?" he said hoping to wake her up. Her murmuring increased, and Danny could see tears leaking out from under her eyelids. "Sam." he said again sharply. "Wake up sweetie."

She kept her eyes tightly shut, and he could see the emotions flitting across her face- whatever she was dreaming about wasn't pleasant.

"Sam!"

Her eyes snapped open at his last shout, and she woke breathing in great gasps of air.

"Hey Sam. You okay?" Danny asked reaching out to her.

She flinched away, shaking slightly.

He frowned. "It's me Sam, it's okay. I won't hurt you." She looked up and Danny almost gasped in shock seeing the pain, fear and slight lost confusion in her eyes. "Sam?" he whispered gently.

"Danny?" she whispered back, seemingly coming out of a trance.

He reached out for her hand, slowly and carefully not trying to scare her or anything. His heart ached when he felt her flinch again, but she didn't pull away. "It's okay. I got you." he whispered again.

Samantha sat still and allowed him to hold her hand, while silent tears poured down her face.

"Do you remember?" he asked after a few moments.

She nodded slowly, the lost confused look still on her face. "I remember everything."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head, feeling sick to her stomach just remembering his cruel taunts, and the overwhelming pain.

"Look you need to rest, I'll call the others let them know you're awake, and why don't you try and get some sleep."

She shook her head violently, wincing when her pounding headache made itself known. "I don't want to sleep."

"Ok." Danny hesitated. "I'll get you some water, and I'll call the others. I'll be right back I promise."

She nodded.

Danny came back a few minutes later, holding a glass of water which he handed to Samantha. "Here you go. I called the others, and they said they'll come and visit later."

"Thanks Danny." replied Samantha after gulping down the water.

He sat back down next to her bed, putting the glass on the side table.

"Does it still hurt a lot?" he asked seeing Sam give a small wince as she tried to get comfortable. "Here I'll do it." He rearranged her pillows for her so she was able to sit up more comfortably.

"It comes and goes." she said. "The medication helps, but it makes me tired."

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?" he said suddenly.

The closed look came over her face again. "I'm sure." she said determinedly.

"Well if you do want to..."

"I know." she smiled, squeezing his hand gently.

"Do you need anything?" he asked after a pause, he noticed Samantha getting more and more drowsy- probably from the morphine.

She shook her head, letting her eyes fall shut.

"I should head back to the office-" began Danny.

"Please." said Samantha reaching out to grab his hand suddenly. "Don't go." Her eyes had shot open and they looked scared.

"He can't hurt you anymore." Danny said softly.

"I know...can you stay until I fall asleep?"

"Sure." he replied. "I'll be back later ok? I'll ask the others too."

"Thanks." she breathed quietly, already drifting off to sleep.

Danny waited until she was fast asleep before leaving to go to the office.

"So is she okay now?" asked Vivian as soon as Danny had explained what had happened.

Danny shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, I don't think she's doing that great. I tried to hold her hand, but she flinched away- she seemed to be having a nightmare too."

"God, poor her." sighed Martin.

Jack smiled grimly. "You think we'll have to get her to talk to Dr. Harris?"

"Probably." replied Danny.

"You'll think she'll agree to it?" asked Vivian, remembering how reluctant she was to go and see Lisa Harris after she was shot.

"Who knows." sighed Danny. "I told her we would go back and see her later today."

"Okay." nodded Jack. "Oh, did the doctor say how long she has to stay? I need to talk to Van Doren about arranging some paid leave."

"No, she didn't say. You can talk to her when we go back later." Danny answered, slightly miffed that Jack didn't seem overly concerned with Samantha's health. He had known about Sam and Jack, and had one time convinced Sam to tell him. He didn't know why Jack didn't seem to be showing any feelings, maybe it was his way of dealing...but still. He sighed inwardly- shrugging it off. Jack was quite a private person.

Jack nodded, "Okay guys. I'm going to head back to the office, let me know when we're going to see Sam."

Vivian nodded. "Sure."

Danny headed over to his desk, and slumped down on the chair. The past few days had taken a lot out of him. He was so glad Sam was awake, and he just hoped her recovery would be relatively easy- and he would be there every step of the way.

There was just over a week until Christmas and he hoped Sam would be out of hospital by then. It wouldn't be Christmas without her, they had spent it together for so many years. Sighing, he switched on his computer, eager to finish the paper work and go back to see Samantha.

Vivian looked over at him concerned, she was worried about him. She knew he hadn't been getting a lot of rest, as he had been worried about Samantha. Hopefully now that Sam was recovering, Danny would be able to stop worrying and take care of himself.


	22. Chapter 22

A few hours later all the paperwork had been completed and they were on their way to see Samantha.

Vivian looked out the window apprehensively, not quite knowing what to expect from Samantha. How were you expected to comfort someone who had been in that situation? She sighed. She was just going to have to do what she could. She prayed that Sam would be able to move on, and not have it plaguing on her for years. She didn't deserve that.

Once at the hospital Danny lead them up to Samantha's room, pausing outside the door he turned to the others. "She was pretty shaken up earlier and uhh...I don't think we should be crowding her. Jack, why don't you and Martin go in first."

They nodded, understanding Danny's reasoning. Jack gently pushed the door open walking softly in followed by Martin.

"Hey Samantha." he said quietly. She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice and smiled to see them.

"Hi." she said.

Martin smiled back. "How you feeling?"

"Honestly, I can't tell. So full of medication. Just wanna get out of here soon."

Jack nodded. There was a small silence, both Jack and Martin not really sure what to say.

"How's everything at work going?" she asked.

"It's good, you're lucky you're missing out on all the paperwork." said Martin.

"Yeah." Sam smiled. "Oh, how's Danny? He didn't look too good when I saw him earlier."

"He's okay. Been worrying about you." said Jack. "Don't think he's been sleeping much."

Samantha frowned. "Make sure he looks after himself ok?"

"We will." said Martin.

"Good." replied Samantha stifling a yawn.

Martin and Jack exchanged glances. "We should go, you look tired."

Samantha smiled weakly but didn't protest, she really was exhausted.

"Are Danny and Viv here?" she asked.

"Yeah, they'll be in in a minute. Get some sleep, ok?" said Jack.

She nodded. "I will. Thanks for coming."

"It's fine." replied Martin smiling. "I'll come see you again tomorrow."

"Okay."

They left the room, going over to Vivian and Danny in the hallway.

"How is she?" asked Vivian.

"She's quite subdued, but that's to be expected I guess." replied Jack.

Martin nodded. "She seemed quite tired as well."

"Did she say anything about what she remembered?" asked Danny.

Jack shook his head. "I don't think she wanted to talk about it."

Vivian nodded. "You want to go see her now?" she turned to Danny.

"Sure." he replied.

They went in, their smiles widening to see Samantha smiling at them.

"Hey." she said.

"Hey, how are you?" asked Vivian going over to the side of the bed followed by Danny.

She shrugged as best she could, wincing as she felt a twinge through her shoulder. "Okay, I guess."

Danny frowned at Vivian having noticed her wince in pain. "How's your shoulder? Do you need us to get the nurse?"

"It'll be fine." she said firmly.

Danny nodded.

Vivian looked at her concerned. "Sam, is there anything you want to talk about?" she asked, having seen the sadness in her eyes.

Samantha sighed, the closed off look Danny had seen on her face earlier coming over it again. She smiled softly at Vivian. "Maybe later?"

Vivian smiled back and nodded. She looked over at Danny, sensing that he wanted to talk to Samantha alone for a bit.

"I should get going, I promised I'd come back early at see Reggie today."

"Okay, say hi to him from me." said Sam.

"Will do. I'll come back tomorrow okay?"

Sam nodded. "Bye."

"Bye Viv." added Danny.

She smiled and walked back into the hallway.

"Honestly Sam, how are you?" asked Danny when the door was shut.

Samantha frowned slightly, "I don't know. It hurts...everything hurts. But then I just feel numb." She shook her head, unwanted tears coming to her eyes. "I just want to go home." she admitted.

"You will soon. You'll be back in time for Christmas." promised Danny.

"Okay." she said quietly, yawning again.

"You should get some sleep." he said.

"So should you." she smiled. "You look exhausted."

"I will." he grinned. "I'll see you later." He leant forward to give her a kiss on the forehead, but remembering her flinching away earlier thought better of it and settled for lightly squeezing her hand.

"Bye." she whispered, yawning.

She sighed, settling back on the pillows when Danny left. She let her eyes fall shut, drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

Danny closed the door to see the others worried faces looking at him.

"She's going to sleep." said Danny.

"Did she talk to you about anything?" asked Vivian.

Danny shook his head sighing deeply. His sigh was mirrored by Vivian. She wondered to herself, how long it would take Sam to talk about it. In a way she didn't want to know, she didn't want to know what could be so horrible that made her have nightmares, flinch away for peoples touch and cause that lost, scared, and pained expression to come over her face. But she wanted to help.

Martin frowned looking worriedly at the closed door. He wanted to help her, he just didn't know how he could. He wasn't as close to her as she was to Danny or Viv. But he liked to think that she could count on him, and that he would be there for her. He glanced at Jack who had an indistinguishable look on his face and idly wondered what Jack was thinking.

They all shared a sad look, before heading back to the car.

Danny came back in later that evening to see Samantha again and found her talking to the doctor.

"Hey." he said as he walked in. "How's everything going?"

"We're just discussing what we'll have to do for the treatment for Samantha's knee." said the doctor.

Danny nodded. "Will she be able to leave soon?" he asked, seeing the pleading on Samantha's face.

The doctor smiled, she knew how anxious Samantha was to leave. "Hopefully within the next 3 days, but you'll have to come back for physiotherapy for your knee."

"3 days, really?" said Sam her eyes widening hopefully.

The doctor nodded, "You seen to be healing fine. Of course there will be routine check ups and things." She paused. "Anyway. I'll leave you to it." She smiled and left the room.

"That's great Sam. You should definately be home for Christmas."

She nodded. "I can't wait to get out of here. I hate hospitals."

"Did you sleep much after we left earlier?"

"A little." she replied. "I still keep having dreams." she admitted.

Danny sighed, he wondered how long they would go on for. "What happened?"

She paused for a minute, briefly closing her eyes. Opening them she looked at him and shook her head. "I don't want to talk about it."

He nodded, he could understand. He just hoped she wouldn't keep it bottled up for too long. That couldn't be healthy.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Here you go, it's the last chapter (nice long one) hope you guys like! And thanks for the great reviews for the story. I'm working on a new story, and hopefully will post the first soon.

Here you go...

"Hey Sam." said Vivian walking into the hospital room the next morning.

"Hey." replied Samantha smiling glad to see her. Vivian settled in the chair next to Samantha's bed happy to see that the noticable bruises and cuts had healed considerably. However the look in Sam's eyes told her that she still had a lot of healing to do, mentally. She hoped that Sam was feeling willing to talk.

"How are you?" asked Vivian.

"Better. I don't know if Danny told you but the doctor said that I should be able to leave in a few days."

"That's great Sam."

Samantha nodded. "I know I can't wait to get out of here."

"How've you been sleeping? Still having nightmares?" asked Vivian cautiously.

Sam sighed. "Yeah." she admitted.

"Do you want to talk?" asked Vivian. Seeing Samantha hesitate she added. "Please Samantha. I want to help."

"Okay." Samantha nodded. There was a small pause as Samantha stopped to gather her thoughts.

Vivian sighed seeing this wasn't going to be easy for her. Samantha seemed to be struggling so Vivian broke the silence.

"Do you remember what happened when he came into Danny's apartment?" she asked softly.

Sam frowned looking down at her hands, picking at the nail polish- anything to avoid looking at Vivian. "I woke up when I heard a noise at my door, I assumed it would be Danny but I saw that it wasn't when he stepped into the room." Samantha shuddered, reliving that night. Vivian reached over and took her hand in her own trying to offer Samantha some comfort.

"I started to get up to get my gun...but he came over to me and he hit me. He threw me back on the bed, and held me down. I tried to get him off but he was too strong. He kept hitting me...I couldn't fight back I felt like I was going to pass out. I remember yelling out for Danny...but he said that Danny wouldn't come, I was so scared that he'd done something to him."

Samantha had tears pouring down her face at this point. She paused for a moment and glanced at Vivian and saw the concern and support on her face. Taking a deep breath she continued. "He kept touching me and saying these things..."

Samantha choked out squeezing her eyes shut, looking away from Vivian again. "He wouldn't stop. Then he took out this cloth and put it over my face. Then everything goes black...I just remember his hands everywhere before I passed out."

Vivian sighed and looked away, not wanting Samantha to see the tears that were threatening to fall as she saw Samantha's obvious pain. She had to be strong to help her get through it. "Uhhh...did he say anything about why he came after you?"

"Ummm...he said that when he saw me in the warehouse...he just had to get me." Samantha shuddered.

Vivian squeezed her hand tightly. "If you don't want to talk about it..."

"No, it's okay. It's better that I get it all out." She took a deep breath. "The next thing I knew I was in the apartment, he'd tied me to a chair."

Samantha closed her eyes, and in her mind she could hear the sounds of flesh hitting flesh, she could feel every punch. Everything was so real again. She winced involuntarily, attracting a worried look from Vivian.

"You alright?" Vivian asked.

Samantha opened her eyes and smiled at Viv weakly. "Yeah. It's just remembering it...it still feels so real almost like I'm still there."

"You'll get through this Sam."

"I hope." She stayed silent for a moment. "He kept hitting me when I was tied to the chair, he kept saying things to me- taunting me." A look of disgust mingled with fear came over her face.

"What kind of things?" asked Vivian.

Samantha hesitated, "He said that he was surprised you guys hadn't found me yet, he said...do you think they even bothered to look." Samantha's eyes filled with tears again. "Things like that. Did I think you missed me, if you cared. If you'd got a replacement yet." she finished softly, again not looking at Vivian.

Vivian's heart ached for the mental pain that Samantha must have been put through by him. "You know none of what he said was true."

Samantha gave a small nod.

"Sam, you can't believe him." said Vivian firmly.

"He said that maybe I wasn't a good agent, the fact that he'd managed to kidnap me and I hadn't put up much of a fight." Samantha looked up at Vivian and she could see the insecurity in her.

"You're a great agent. You said yourself he was too strong for you." Vivian said reassuringly.

"I guess." replied Samantha.

"You know there's nothing more you could have done." She wasn't going to let Samantha start thinking that she wasn't good enough. It was going to be hard enough for her to get through this without having that at the back of her mind. "Did he say or do anything else?"

Samantha looked physically sick for a moment, "Not really." she said.

Vivian raised an eyebrow at her.

"He kept kissing me and touching me..."

"Did he try to...you know again?" asked Vivian cautiously.

"Not that I know of. He kept talking about it though..." she trailed off, and Vivina didn't push it.

"When I couldn't sit on the chair anymore, he tied me to that pipe so I was lying on the floor. I think I was unconscious a lot after he moved me, I don't remember much. I remember when he got the gun though. He heard you guys pull up outside, and said something about it not supposed to be that way, he didn't think you would come that quickly. I remember him pointing the gun at me, and I thought this was it. Then all I felt was pain." She sighed in relief as she finished.

"I know this doesn't help with what you went through, but I'm sorry."

"Thanks Viv." said Sam quietly.

Vivian noticed Sam looked tired, and seemed to have worn herself out. "I'll leave you to get some rest okay?"

Samantha nodded. "Thanks for listening and everything Viv."

"Anytime. Do you need anything before I go?"

Samantha shook her head.

"Okay, I'll come back later. Oh...do you want me to tell the others anything? Or..."

Samantha frowned. It would be easier if Vivian told them. "Yeah, do you mind? Umm can you ask Danny to come when he can though, I want to talk to him. Thanks."

"Sure. Bye Sam. Get some rest."

"See you later Viv." Samantha smiled, and shuffled down trying to get comfy. She felt better now that she had told someone. She vowed to get through this and not let it haunt her.

"Hey Viv." said Danny as she walked into the office. "Bit late."

"I just went to see Sam." she replied.

"How is she?" asked Danny.

"Better I think. She talked about what happened."

"Oh." said Danny a slightly hurt look coming over his face. "She wouldn't talk yesterday."

Vivian sighed. "She wanted you to go see her as soon as you can- she wants to talk." Noting the hurt look on his face. "I made her tell me, I think it was easier for her to tell me, as I'm a woman too."

Danny nodded, "Yeah I guess. Did she tell you everything?"

"Pretty much. She said I can tell you guys, but I don't know if you want to see her first?"

"Err, I think it would be better if I heard some from you first."

"Okay. Are Martin and Jack here?"

Danny nodded, "In the office. She's going to be alright though?"

"Yeah." said Vivian nodding. "I'll get the others."

Danny picked up a photo from last years Christmas party, and smiled to see how happy they all looked especially Sam, and he hoped she'd be able to get back to that.

Vivian came out a moment later with Jack and Martin in tow. Sitting at the conference table, she said "I spoke to Sam this morning and she told me what had happened. She said I can tell you..." So Vivian told them everything that Samantha had told her that morning. She noticed their reactions being similar to her own. When she had finished she looked over at Danny who, as expected, was taking this the hardest. His face was quite pale, but his eyes dark with anger. "I'm going to go see her." he said, grabbing his jacket and leaving the office quickly.

Vivian looked back at Martin and Jack. The younger agent was deep in concentration staring at the table top. "How does she seem to be dealing?" he asked after a pause..

"I think talking really helped her, she seems okay- she got quite worked up when she was telling me."

Martin nodded. He smiled sadly.

"Christ. Poor Samantha." said Jack.

Vivian and Martin nodded in agreement. They sat in silence not really knowing what to say to each other, each thinking about their colleague.

"Hey Sam." said Danny going into her room and sitting down in his usual chair.

"Hey." she replied, noticing his strained expression, she smiled softly. "Vivian told you?"

Danny nodded. "I'm so sorry Sam."

"It's not your fault Danny. You know that."

"Yeah." he took her hand in his cold ones.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you yesterday." she said.

"It's okay."

"I did want to, but I couldn't. Then Vivian persuaded me and I didn't want to keep it inside any longer."

"I understand." he said brushing some hair away from her eyes.

"Thanks Danny." She sighed. "I should be out of here soon." she said, her eyes darting round the room. "I'm sick of this place."

"I'm not surprised. They don't make it very...homey do they?"

Samantha shook her head.

"I don't want to push but is there anything you want to talk about?" asked Danny eventually.

Samantha looked at him and sighed. "I was so scared when I was in there you know. I still didn't know what had happened to you. And all the things he did and said, I was so sure that I wasn't going to get out of there."

Danny looked at her. "You're going to be okay. We got you out in time, thats what matters."

Samantha smiled. "I know." she paused. "I know I think I upset you when I flinched away from you the other day, and I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, its understandable. I know it's going to take time for everything to get back to normal."

"Thanks. Hey, Danny aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Yeah, after Viv told us I had to come and see you."

"That's sweet, but you should go back. The're already missing one agent."

"Okay. I'll come back later."

"Yeah. I'll see you then."

"Bye."

2 days later Samantha was ready to go back home, she had called Danny to ask him to take her back to her apartment. Danny, along with the others help had cleared everything up and changed the locks so she wouldn't have to be reminded of Ken Jones when she was there.

She had had a visit from Martin and Jack, each coming to offer their support after what Vivian had told them. Samantha finally felt that things were on the way to being normal again.

"Home sweet home." said Danny opening her door and helping her inside. Because of her arm being in a sling so she didn't strain it, and risk breaking the stiches and her leg being in a cast, the doctors had given her a wheelchair temporarily, which she had resisted to strongly to start with. When they had told her it was either that or stay in hospital longer, she had stopped protesting. She also had a pair of crutches for when she was able to use her arm.

"Thanks Danny." she said pushing herself over into the living room. "Hey, did you clean the place?"

"Along with Viv, Martin and Jack." said Danny, just then there was a knock on the door. Samantha looked over puzzled.

Danny walked over to get the door, grinning when he saw Martin, Vivian and Jack. "You got here quick." he said

"You planned this?" said Sam.

Danny grinned, "I called them when you were signing the papers."

Samantha rolled her eyes, "Come in, grab a seat."

"Hey Sam." said Vivian leaning down to give her a hug. "Glad to be home?"

Samantha nodded. "Thanks for what you did to the place guys."

"No problem." said Martin. "How you feeling?"

"Good." she said. "How's everything going at work? Must be quiet if you all managed to take this time off." she turned to Jack smiling.

"We managed to find a few hours." he replied. "And Van Doren said she'll call if we're needed."

The team sat in Samantha's living room, enjoying the conversation, glad that Samantha washome and getting better.

Christmas Day.

Danny had stayed over at Samantha's on the couch Christmas eve night, and was now up making a Christmas Day breakfast. Last night they had decided to stay in and watch movies. Martin had come over Christmas Eve morning to exchange presents before he flew out to D.C. And Vivian was going to come over on Boxing Day.

"Morning. Merry Christmas" said Samantha, as she hobbled into the kitchen using her crutches.

"Merry Christmas." replied Danny turning away from the stove for a minute to peck her on the cheek. "Good sleep? he asked, she'd still been having nightmares occasionally.

"Yeah, okay. Got any coffee?" she asked, going to the cupboard to get a mug.

"I'll get it. You sit down." said Danny.

"Thanks." she said, sitting at the table. She set out the plates and cutlery that Danny had left. "You making your traditional Christmas pancakes?"

"Of course." he said.

After they had finished, they decided to open the presents. Samantha had bought a small tree which she had decorated (with Vivian's help) and she had insisted they put all the presents under it.

"Okay, this ones for you from me." said Sam eagerly giving Danny a quite large wrapped package.

He took it and squeezed it to see if he could guess what it was. It was quite soft. He took his time unwrapping it- knowing that it was annoying Samantha.

"Just open it." she said frustrated.

He tore off the paper, grinning he pulled out a Knicks t-shirt, "Thanks Sam, it's great." He unfolded it and was surprised when something fell out. It was a round package. He looked questioningly at Sam who just smiled. Curious he opened it, and his mouth dropped open in surprise. It was a baseball that had been signed by one of his favorite players.

"Sam, that's amazing! How did you get it?"

"Called in a few favors." she smiled, glad to see how happy he looked.

"Thank you so much." he said getting up to give her a hug. "Now you." he handed her a hastily wrapped gift. It seemed to be in 2 parts, one was a large-ish flat object. She opened that first, "Wow Danny. I love it." It was the picture of the team last Christmas, he had gotten it blown up and framed it. The other package was a scarf, gloves and hat set. "It's gorgeous Danny. Thank you."

He smiled, "Well I know you hate the cold."

She sighed happily, "Thanks for everything, this is great." She moved over to the couch to sit next to him.

"You're welcome Sam." he said wrapping an arm around her.

"Not just today, but being there after everything that happened, sitting with me after a nightmare. Everything. I'm so glad nothing worse happened, if that phone call about you being in that accident had been real, I don't know what I would have done. You're my best friend, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love you."

"Sam, I love you too. I know what you mean, when you were taken- I was out of my mind. I couldn't imagine everything without you."

Samantha leant forward and grabbed the two glasses of soda from the table. She handed one to Danny and raised hers in a toast. "To friends." she said.

"Friends." said Danny.

They were quiet for a moment. "Hey Sammy, want to watch a movie?"

"Sure." said Sam.

The End.


End file.
